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56 £V

ie Coming of
The Slav

Charles Eugene Edwards

THE COMING
OF THE SLAV

BY J
CHARLES EUGEN^ EDWARDS

Author of
"Protestantism in Poland" and "Prayers from Calvin"

PHILADELPHIA

THE WESTMINSTER PRESS
1921

Printed in the United States of America.

TO MY WIFE

468914

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface 7

Foreword 10

Introduction 13

Chapter I. Historical Aspects 17

Dr. Washburn. Survey. Slav languages. Czechoslo
vakia's situation. Need of the gospel. Lord Radstock
and Pashkof. The Reformation.

Chapter II. Colportage 38

Colportage throughout Slavdom, results, anecdotes.
Whittier. History of colportage. Bible societies.
The Apocrypha.

Chapter III. Early Missions Among Slavs 73

Statements by Drs. Montgomery, McEwan, Losa, Boyce,
S. J. Fisher.

Chapter IV. Encouragements 91

Mr. Prudky's journeys. Great accessions in Czecho
slovakia. President Masaryk. Monthly concert of
prayer for missions. American Hussite Society.

Supplement 117

Bibliography. Area of Slavdom. Lord's Prayer in three
languages. Justification for evangelical missions.
Slav periodicals, versions of Scripture. Letters of
Drs. Elterich and Hays. Mr. Prudky's journeys
continued. Statistics. Comenius,

THOMAS GARRIGUE MASARYK
President of the Republic of Czechoslovakia

PREFACE

THE following preface was written during the busy
sessions of the Pan-Presbyterian Council at Pittsburgh
in September, 1921, by Dr. F. Zilka. He is a professor
in the Evangelical Theological Faculty of John Huss
in the University of Prague, and was decorated by
the Sorbonne of Paris. Rev. J. V. Kovar translated it
from the Bohemian; and it is worthy of mention that
Mr. Kovar traveled thousands of miles in Siberia with
Czechoslovak troops. The writer wishes here to express
cordial gratitude for the kindness of Prof. Zilka, and
of Mr. Kovar.

It is not customary for a foreigner to call the atten
tion of the reading public to a book by a native author,
and it was only with great hesitation that ^yielded to
Dr. Edwards' request to write these few sentences.
In explanation of this unusual step, and at the same
time in justification of it, is the fact that the subject
of the book is far more alien to American readers than
to myself. To me, as a Slav and a Czech, the matter
with which Dr. Edwards is dealing is indeed near,
very near to my heart. For this reason, though with
some doubts, I consented to violate custom, and as a
foreigner address a few words to American readers.

Let me say, right at the beginning, that the book of
Dr. Edwards bears traces of its American origin; it is
specifically American. I think that any Slav would
deal with the subject in a different way. But for
American readers, and for that matter the English-
reading public in general, the American way of grasping
the whole problem, the American selection and arrange
ment of the material is an advantage, because it takes

;THK CODING OF THE SLAV

into account the interest of an American reader, and
responds to his requirements. And if Slavic readers
will not find in the book everything that they would
like to see, no doubt they will appreciate the undeniable
fact that Dr. Edwards is the first to draw attention to
an important world problem, and to turn toward it
the eyes of the other hemisphere in this way and from
this standpoint.

The interest of Dr. Edwards in the Slav was not
awakened by the World War. When eleven years ago
I had the pleasure of meeting him, I found that he had
already a crystallized understanding of European
Slavdom. Dr. Edwards' attempt to contribute to the
solution of the Slav problem is not therefore, as with
some, of a very recent date, and has not been called
into existence only by the latest events, through which
the Slavs were forced upon the attention both of
America and of the rest of the world. It was not the
collapse of the Russian front which caused a turn in
the war and placed upon the Allies new and heavier
tasks, after Russia had greatly helped by stemming
the first and strongest and most dangerous impact of
the German steam roller in the east, just as France
and England did in the west; nor was it the present
Bolshevik regime in Russia, and the horrors of famine
and pestilence that drew the mind of Dr. Edwards
to the distant east. If I am right, it was on one hand
a purely scientific interest in unknown nations, and
on the other, the practical problem of a polyglot immi
gration to the United States, the Slav immigrants
numbering millions, that led Dr. Edwards more than
ten years ago to write his first publications about Slavs.

Since that time his interest in Slavdom has not
diminished, but rather increased. This shows that
English-speaking readers in general, and Americans in
particular, have at hand an outcome of a theoretic as

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 9

well as a practical study of this subject. Some portions
of this book are the first attempt to throw light upon
the Slav problem, and upon its significance for the
world at large. It has its own viewpoint, which is
evident in the conception and arrangement of the
material. In a book of such limited proportions, no
one will try to find a solution of all phases of the Slav
problem, but I think that none has been overlooked.
The book itself is a proof that it does not contain all
that Dr. Edwards knows about Slavs. Much will
depend upon the reception that this book may receive
from its readers, to encourage him to tell more, perhaps
from another angle. Let the book speak for itself, for
its author, for Slavdom.

I desire to call attention to one thing only: the
problem of the Slav is not merely a European and
Asiatic problem; it is a world problem. Great Britain
and America are directly interested, the former by its
proximity to Slavdom in Asia, the other because it is a
neighbor across the Pacific, which does not divide but
unites, is not a barrier as it used to be, but a bridge.
At the same time the Slav problem reaches the heart of
Europe and dominates the whole of its southeastern
portion, a region where three continents meet and
many interests intermingle. It is and will be a world
problem indeed.

I hope that the love and enthusiasm of this dear
friend of Slavs, which prompted him to undertake the
writing of the book, will be rewarded by a kind reception
on the part of the reading public. I further hope that
readers will be stimulated to a more thorough study of a
question which is inevitably going to be a deeply burning
question in the near future.

F. ZILKA.
Prague, Czechoslovakia.

FOREWORD

THE World War began with the Slavs, Serbia in the
foreground, Russia soon involved. The entire course
of it, especially many of its crises, was largely affected
by Slav successes or failures. The achievements of th?
Czechoslovak army shone more brilliantly by contrast
with their dark background, the collapse of Russia.
The leading spirit in the organization of that army,
and subsequently in the formation of the Czechoslovak
Republic of which he is the head, President T. G.
Masaryk, emerged as the most popular and successful
statesman of Europe. The War was a new revelatior
of the Slavs, especially to America. Christian America
should appreciate the lesson, and should know the
importance of evangelizing Slavdom. The Slav family
of nations has generally been omitted from consideration
in the great missionary conventions of the past genera
tion. If this habit continues, it will seriously impair
the grand strategy, as soldiers express it, of the world's
evangelization. The logic for evangelizing the vast
Slav lands of Europe and Asia, which are neighbors to
the bulk of the world's population, is the logic which
justifies the Reformation itself, or the same as the
arguments for evangelizing Latin America, which were
thoroughly demonstrated by the Panama Congress.

No Slav land has so many evangelicals as Czecho
slovakia. No other is rated so high for intelligence
and culture. No other has so intense an admiration
for its great Reformer, John Huss. Thus there is "a
spark of Protestantism in every Bohemian." A far
greater movement than "Los von Rom" ("away from
Rome") of some years ago, is progressing in Bohemia

GEORGE W. MONTGOMERY, D.D.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 11

and Moravia toward the ideals of Huss and the Hussites.
America helped Czechoslovakia to win her present
liberty, after a thralldom of centuries. Christian
America should now help these seekers after a Saviour
to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made
us free.

No Christians in America have done more for Slavs
than the Presbyterians, especially in the work of
colportage, which is illustrated in portions of this book.
No presbytery has done more for the Slavs in its bounds,
also for Czechoslovakia, than Pittsburgh Presbytery,
under the guidance of its superintendents, Dr. Vaclav
Losa, and the late Dr. George W. Montgomery. Dr.
Montgomery's death was a sore bereavement for this
cause. Dr. W. L. McEwan, who was instrumental in
sending the call to Dr. Losa to begin work for Slavs in
this presbytery, has proposed the best method for
aiding Czechoslovakia, through the "American Hussite
Society" which he organized, and of which he is the
first president. Dr. Losa is its corresponding secretary,
with his office in the Fulton Building, Pittsburgh. If a
multitude of members could be enrolled in this society,
this new Hussite movement might not only pervade
Czechoslovakia, but Slavdom also. Then, with Slav
dom as a base, the evangelization of the world would
be hastened. It is the purpose of this book to turn
attention to this part of the Christian conquest, and
awaken prayer for so glorious a consummation !

Note

WE have abundance of books on the evangelization
of Latin America and of Latin Europe. There are the
three volumes of the Panama Congress, works on Mex
ico and South America, some prepared as mission-study
class books. There is George Sorrow's "The Bible in
Spain," recognized as a classic of English literature.

12 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

There are books about the McAll Mission in France,
about French Protestants, about Waldensians in Italy,
and so on. The population of the Latin world may
exceed a hundred and seventy millions; and the world
probably has as many millions of Slavs. But precious
little has been written about the evangelization of
Slavdom; and this work is probably the only book
written from a Presbyterian standpoint on the subject.
In English we have five words meaning the same
thing: Slav, Slavian, Slavic, Slavonic, Slavonian,
though the latter may refer to Slavonia, a crownland
of Hungary. It is superfluous to add a sixth word,
"Slavish," which is a misspelled German word, and
also objectionable, as it might be mistaken for "slavish."
Slavdom, "the domain or sphere of influence of the
Slavs," has equivalent expressions, as "the Slavic
nations" or "the Slavonic world."

INTRODUCTION

MANY Slavs have dreamed of a day when Slav
nationalities shall have a greater prominence in the
world's affairs than has ever been recorded in history
for the Latin or Teutonic races. This hope seemed
warranted by the progress of Russia.

But Czechoslovakia, from a religious point of view,
may hold this key of promise. Survey the vast extent
of Slavdom. Note the strategic position of Slav nations,
in closer contact with each other, and with the masses
of the world's population, than are the widespread
Latin nations. Note the advantages in religious work
from the similarity of Slav tongues. Then, too, it is
easy to perceive that with Bohemia's central situation
in Europe, with the intelligence of its people, with its
language, having some possibilities of a "world lan
guage" in dealing with other Slavs, it could become a
power for righteousness and peace, if it is a propagator
of the gospel.

Russia has been considered a menace to India, the
more so if Germany controls its destinies. But if a
new Reformation spreads through Czechoslovakia, and
onward into Russia, the menace can be changed into a
blessing. Every evangelical Slav can testify that
Slavdom needs the gospel; and the arguments which
prove that the gospel should be given to Latin America
are entirely applicable to the Slavs. These are demon
strated by conditions prevailing among Russian priests,
and by the situation revealed in Russia through the
labors of Lord Radstock and his convert, Pashkof.
Finally, the history of the Reformation among two
Slav peoples, the Bohemians or Czechs, and the Poles,

14 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

which was stopped only by brute force, massacres, and
exile, shows that the modern missionary movement, an
expansion of the Reformation, is the hope and promise
for all Slavdom.

One form of evangelical effort has been applied to
all of Slavdom, and among Slavs in America, namely,
colportage. Bibles or Testaments were prepared in
some Slav languages before the Authorized Version
appeared in English. Experiences in such work at
Pittsburgh, and by colporteurs of the Presbyterian
Board of Publication, illustrate it for America; and the
annual reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society
furnish anecdotes of it in Slavdom. There is greater
hindrance for colportage among Slavs dominated by
Rome than among the Greek Orthodox. Not a Slav
nation is without its converts and its Bible readers.
And everywhere, for instance, among Italian Walden-
sians, colporteurs are often pioneers for established
missions. A difficulty encountered by colporteurs in
Europe is that Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and German
Lutherans insist upon having the Apocrypha. Are the
great Bible societies right in excluding the Apocrypha
from their publications? They certainly are, for the
Apocrypha contain ridiculous or hurtful errors; and
these facts should be more widely known.

American evangelical missions among Slavs are
examples for similar enterprises in all Slavdom. For
years the Presbyterian roll of Slav workers has been
longer than that of any other denomination. This
statement should occasion no absurd pride, but pro
voke to love and good works. In the Czechoslovak
Review, July, 1921, an account is given of Dr. Vincent
Pisek's work in New York City where he was ordained
and installed pastor of the Jan Hus Presbyterian
Church in 1883. In 1887 he induced three theological
students to come to America, Drs. Pokorny, Bren,

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 15

and Losa, who eventually labored in Bohemian settle
ments in western states. This work of theirs has
since grown into two presbyteries.*

Not in rural communities only, but in cities also,
have Bohemian churches been organized; and Presby
terians in Chicago, New York City, and Cedar Rapids
have erected probably the finest evangelical Bohemian
church buildings in America. It has been published
that Chicago is the third Bohemian city, next to Vienna
and Prague, and the third Polish city, next to Lodz
and Warsaw. Suppose it be debated whether it stands
second only to Prague as a Bohemian city, and second
only to Warsaw as a Polish city. Still for years it has
been undeniable that outside of Slavdom there is no
greater Slav center than Chicago, and scores of Ameri
can towns have Slav colonies. In St. Louis, for years,
Rev. George Wales King has interested Presbyterians
of that city and also those of adjacent Illinois districts
in Slavs, especially Balkan Slavs. He has devoted
time and energy to the details of colportage, and in
many a bulletin has he advocated all such missionary
work. In Dubuque, Iowa, and Bloomfield, New Jersey,
the Presbyterian Church has schools, originally German,
where for many years Slav instructors and students
have been enrolled among other nationalities.

Presbyterian Slovak work has been centered in
Pennsylvania, its Polish work in Baltimore, its Ruth-
enian work in Pittsburgh and some eastern cities. To
describe all this fully would be to traverse the ground
of the late Dr. McLanahan's book, "Our People of
Foreign Speech," or on a smaller scale, the appendix
to Dr. Grose's "Aliens or Americans?" This plan

* Statistics, 1921: Central West (Bohemian) Presbytery: Min
isters, 20. Churches, 21. Communicants, 1939. Infants baptized,
129. Sunday-school members, 1343; Southwest Bohemian Presby
tery: Ministers, 9. Churches, 12. Communicants, 479. Infants
baptized, 52. S. S. members, 526.

16 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

requires a periodical revision, or even a series, like
"Sion," the Bohemian Yearbook edited by Dr. Losa.
A large space is here given to Pittsburgh Presbytery's
work, partly because of its remarkable features and its
methods, the same as those of foreign missions, and
partly because this book owes much to the cooperation
of numerous friends in that region.

It is almost unknown to Americans that Bohemian
colonies, some having Reformed churches, are found in
parts of Russia, also in regions dominated by Poles,
and a few in Jugoslavia. Here are possible centers for
aggressive missionary work in regions of Slavdom at
various distances from Czechoslovakia. The journeys
of Mr. Prudky among these settlements are accordingly
significant. In Poland are two Reformed synods of
Polish churches, with which these Bohemian churches
are in correspondence. The overwhelming accessions
to evangelical churches in Bohemia and Moravia have
had no parallel in Europe for centuries. At such a
juncture it greatly aids their cause that the President
of their Republic, Thomas G. Masaryk, is one of their
number. His apt quotation from the great Bohemian
reformer, Comenius, when he addressed the Czecho
slovak National Assembly, reveals his spirit.

In conclusion, two things are always urged in plans
for missionary progress: prayer, and money or its
equivalent. Summing up the practical things that
American Christians could do for Czechoslovakia, one
is to give to it and to Slavdom some place in the topics
for the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions ; another
is to form branches of the "American Hussite Society"
which has been created for the purpose of aiding this
truly Hussite movement.

Chapter I
HISTORICAL ASPECTS

THE LIVING AGE, in February, 1898, published an
article under the caption, "The Coming of the Slav"
by Dr. George Washburn, who was at that time president
of Robert College, Constantinople. He first gives the
substance of an address delivered not long before by
a young Slav:

"The Latin and Teutonic races have had their day,
and they have failed to establish a truly Christian civili
zation. They have done great things in the organization
of society, in the development of material wealth, in
literature, arts, and science, and especially in recog
nizing and securing in some degree the rights of the
individual man; but they have exalted the material
above the spiritual, and made Mammon their god.
They have lost the nobler aspirations of youth and are
governed now by the sordid calculations of old age.
We wait the coming of the Slav to regenerate Europe,
establish the principle of universal brotherhood and
the Kingdom of Christ on earth."

Discussing this he remarks: "If it were the fancy of
a single brain it would not be worth noticing; but as
it is, in fact, the dream of a hundred million brains in
Europe, it has some interest for those who are to be
regenerated by the coming of the Slav. Englishmen
and Americans used to have such dreams, and some
how, without much wisdom or much conscious direction
on the part of their rulers, these dreams have got them
selves fulfilled in a measure. If we have failed to
establish a truly Christian civilization in the world,
and have left something for the Slavs to do, it is, per-

18 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

haps, our fault; but we have certainly done something
toward the evolution of society. . . . The Latin
races had certainly failed to realize their dreams when
the Teutonic races took up the work and put new life
into it. If now the Slavs can complete it, so much the
better for us and the world, however painful the process
may be. The Latin races have lost nothing worth
having by our leadership, and if the Slavs arc to bring
in a truly Christian civilization and universal brother
hood, then Latin, Teuton, and Slav will share alike in
all the happy results which 'must follow.' ' Dr. Wash-
burn's conclusion was that "for the present the coming
of the Slav means the extension and increase of the
political power of Russia."

Since that date much water has flowed under Slav
bridges. The rise and liberation of Czechoslovakia was
a remarkable phenomenon of the War. Without ven
turing to prophesy that this event foreshadows a
universal Slav advancement, it is certain that for
centuries Czechoslovakia has had no such opportunity
as that afforded by its new freedom; and that this is of
profound significance with reference to its evangeliza
tion, together with that of other Slav countries. More
over, this evangelization will hasten the same Christian
work throughout the world.

A glance at maps of continents would show the folly
or wrong of any program for world evangelization which
omits Slavdom. Europe and Asia contain most of the
world's population. Supposing a conqueror to gain the
mastery of these two continents, the domination of
the world might seem an easy problem. Such visions
have fascinated military minds, will probably do so
again, and are suggestive for the statesmen of Imman-
uel's kingdom. Russian arid Polish dominions, Czecho
slovakia, Jugoslavia, and if we note its language, not
its racial antecedents, Bulgaria — that is Slavdom. In

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 19

its sphere of influence, at least, as noted by anxious
diplomats, are Japan, Korea or Chosen, Manchuria,
China, Tibet, India, Persia, Asia Minor, some other
Asiatic countries also being sensitive to Slav power;
and in Europe, the Turks, Greeks, Italians, Hungarians,
Germans, Scandinavians, and others meet the Slavs
in war and peace. England and France were allies of
Slavs. This survey of nations aggregates possibly a
billion of souls.

A hint of danger to the world's peace, also to the
cause of evangelical missions, may arouse us to the
importance of including Slavdom in any statesmanlike
scheme for world evangelization. In the Nineteenth
Century, October 1919, page 786, Herr Werner Daya's
book, with its subtitle, "Russian Asia as Germany's
Economic Peace- Aim" is quoted:

"For the first time in history the closing-in naval
policy of England, which for centuries has held the
mastery of the world by a uniform concentration of
all her forces in one direction, will be countered by an
equally comprehensive and equally powerful concen
tration of an Overland policy." Then, if Germany
controls Russian Asia, "we should be able in any
future war to sweep down upon India and drive the
English out of Asia into the sea." What then would
become of the great work of British and American
missions in that Indian Empire, built up for genera
tions, and ere long to gain, as has been fondly hoped,
several millions of converts? America can sympathize
with the danger perceived by British statesmen, when
they stopped the propaganda of German missionaries
in India, and removed them from their fields. Will
Germany, approaching India through Slavdom, turn
the tables upon Anglo-Saxons, and expel all our mission
aries? On the other hand, let America follow Christ,
believing that he is Lord of peace and war, and that his

20 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

command to seek first the Kingdom of God and his
righteousness, will add political advantages to the
nations that obey it. Then another and expanded
Reformation may, through the grace of God, occur in
Slavdom as well as in India. The Reformation defeated
the plans and power of those who thought that the
dominion of the world was in their hands. Modern
evangelical missions have the same doctrines, purpose,
methods, and results as those of the Reformation.
America is the child of the Reformation, and owes its
common schools to John Calvin. Let America be a
worker together with God, and while she redoubles her
aid for India, let her aid evangelical brethren in Slav
dom, whose spiritual ancestors were the first Reformers.
Thus a danger will become a victory which will speed
the salvation of the world.

At^first sight, the great array of publications that con
cern Slavdom would indicate that it has no solidarity.
History records that Poles have fought Russians. Their
churches are different, though their ideas of religion
may be much the same, the reverse of evangelical.
Serbians fought Bulgarians, though both have Greek
Orthodox churches, which are the most numerous in a
summary of Slavdom. Greeks themselves have fought
Greek Orthodox Slavs. The Greek and Roman
churches among Slavs are opposed, excluding each
other's members. The unity of Slavdom is further
broken by a singular compromise, the Greek Catholic
organizations, adhering to the pope but without a
Latin ritual, whose married priests have surprised the
Irish Catholics in America. In smaller numbers there
are Protestant Slavs and Mohammedan Slavs. Some
statesmen have feared Pan-Slavism; others, aware of
these divisions, see as much diversity of feeling among
Slavs as among other Europeans.

Yet there is a solidarity, too little understood and of

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 21

practical importance, due to the resemblance of Slav
languages. A Bohemian can learn to read Polish or
Russian in a month. The Slovak language has some
grammatical forms more like the tongue of John Huss
than the modern Bohemian. There has been no
distinct Slovak Bible, and where they were allowed to
read it, they have used the famous Kralicka Bohemian
Bible. Grammars have been prepared for Croatians
and Serbians, who speak the same language, a Croatian
page in Roman type, the opposite Serbian page in a
modified Russian alphabet. No wonder the Allies
approve the experiment of combining them with the
Slovenes, in one government of Jugoslavia. The
Russian alphabet with modifications is used by Rus
sians, Ruthenians, Serbians, Bulgarians, and the
Roman alphabet, with diacritical marks, by Bohemians,
Slovaks, Poles, Croatians and Slovenes. But, as spoken,
this family of tongues has striking resemblances. Their
declensions of nouns, their pronouns, prepositions,
adverbs, and some common words of their vocabulary,
are features of the family likeness. "Mamma, give me
a kolatch," a little cake with preserves in the center,
is a word universally understood by Slavs. Seton-
Watson, states that a Slovak peddler "can wander from
Pressburg to Vladivostock without encountering seri
ous linguistic difficulties."

Take the Gospel of John as a language lesson. Let
a Pole hear it read in Bohemian, or a Bohemian hear
it in Polish. It is profound in theology, of doctrinal
importance, but simple, with many repetitions in
vocabulary, having about eight hundred words of
common life, a good start for a beginner in any language.
With attention the Pole or the Bohemian recognizes
so many words of the other's language that he soon
comprehends whole paragraphs or chapters. With
varying facility, perhaps corresponding to the relative

22 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

distance of other Slavs from Czechoslovakia or from
Poland, they would comprehend the pronunciation
and vocabulary of all other Slav nations.

Here is an interesting consequence from these
resemblances. In. Russian churches the ritual is
recited in "a dead language," and it has been sup
posedly as dead as the Latin of the Romish ritual.
Cyril and Methodius, the first missionaries among
Slavs, used that language of the Russian ritual a
millennium ago, a language now no longer spoken.
Seemingly contradictory statements about it need not
puzzle us. Stupid, inattentive hearers may not com
prehend it. Cultured or attentive listeners, hearing it
frequently, recognize the words as they would from
any other Slav tongue, and, with profound interest in a
language made venerable by religious use for centuries,
proudly declare that they understand it all. Anglo-
Saxon Gospels are also traced to early centuries, and
are part of a course in English study; yet it is doubtful
if any Englishman could understand them when read
as easily as Slavs comprehend their ancient ritual.

But there are consequences more practical and
important. Dr. V. Losa, a Bohemian, undertook
mission work in Pittsburgh Presbytery in 1900. He
was in contact from the first with Bohemians, Slovaks,
Ruthenians, and other Slavs. All soon understood
Bohemian preaching and joined in singing Bohemian
hymns. In his prayer meetings, Scriptures were read,
verse about, from different Slav versions, as each man
preferred, yet this variety of languages made no con
fusion, but added interest to the exercise. For years,
with growing usefulness, Dr. Losa demonstrated that
a well-prepared Bohemian could regard the entire
mass of Slavs as his mission field, especially as a body
of well-trained helpers from these nationalities, with
the divine blessing, was formed to cooperate with him.

VACLAV LOSA, D.D.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 23

Let similar methods and evangelical zeal be applied a
thousandfold, in ten thousand communities of Slavdom,
and an evangelical solidarity, the best in the world,
will be created among all Slav nations.

Czechoslovakia, about a thousand kilometers long
and in places hardly more than a hundred kilometers
broad, lies in the heart of Europe, equally distant from
the great seas, the Adriatic, the North, and the Baltic.
It has four divisions, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and
Slovakia, and later, Rusinia, a district of Ruthenian
Slavs was added, by request of its people, to the east
of Slovakia. The total area is about 56,000 square
miles, and the population fourteen millions. It lies
athwart the Berlin-Bagdad Railway, an important fact
in international relations.

Bohemia is supposed to get its name from an ancient
Celtic tribe, the Boii, who also gave their name to
Bavaria. The native name of the people, the Czechs,
is understood to be derived from an ancient ancestor.
The country is the westernmost Slav land in Europe,
like a wedge between northern and southern Germans,
hence a battle ground of the two races for centuries,
and long before Huss. It is diamond-shaped, the points
coinciding nearly with those of the compass. Its streams
generally flow into the Moldau (Vltava), a branch of
the Elbe flowing northwestward, a channel for com
merce through Saxony. And Bohemian commerce
follows the Danube southeastward. If canals connect
the Danube with the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula,
Czechoslovakia will be a center of extensive communi
cations; and it hopes for development of water power.
Bohemia's area is rich, half of it under cultivation;
more than half of Austria's revenue from taxation
came from Bohemia. There are mountain walls on
three sides, but no distinct ridge toward Moravia,
where the people speak the same language, and have

24 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

always been associated with Bohemians. The famous
Moravian Brethren after emigrating to Germany
became Germanized. Brtinn (Brno) is Moravia's
capital; and Prague, the capital of Bohemia, was pro
nounced by Humboldt the most beautiful inland town
of Europe. With the annexation of suburbs, and the
influx of population since the armistice, Prague may
soon contain more'than a million souls and become more
attractive to tourists than Vienna or Budapest. Czecho
slovakia has minerals, also mineral springs, such as the
Karlsbad and Marienbad resorts, and others, some
thirty-three places in all, visited annually by hundreds
of thousands.

Slovakia in its first year of liberty made a rapid
advance in education. It had about 5000 teachers in
elementary schools; and in grammar, secondary,
technical, and university grades, about 600 Czech
professors, besides many Slovaks. There were 42
secondary schools, with nearly 4800 pupils. There
was a development also in the press and in libraries.
Bela Kuhn, in 1919, cruelly invaded Slovakia and over
ran a third of the country, which lost a billion crowrns;
but this roused and united the patriotism of all
Czechoslovakia.

The great need of Slavdom is the gospel. America's
polyglot immigration gives her the best of opportuni
ties for planting evangelical missions among these
people. In free America Bunyan's vision has been
fulfilled, and the tyrant, grinning from his cave, has
not been able to molest the pilgrims on their way to the
Celestial City. The two main groups of this European
throng are Latin and Slav. The Slav converts, some
times with tears, ask Dr. Losa why America's religious
privileges could not be enjoyed in Europe, especially in
countries that never had a Reformation. Here are
evangelical organizations equipped with everything

M n> n> ,

C«W^E: o p.

Ililrl

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 25

that wealth can buy; surely the gospel cannot be an
American monopoly which is not for Slavs.

Christian workers soon see how tactless it is to ques
tion the sincerity of such people. It is like a question
of veracity, which quickly kindles an American's
indignation. It does not improve matters to intimate
that their former state of superstition of formalism is
good enough for their class of immigrants. If such
darkness is not good enough for Americans, it is not
good for any nationality on earth! True converts
become epistles "known and read of all men." He
that stole steals no more, but works with his hands
that he may have to give to him that needs. Putting
away lying, he speaks truth with his neighbor. No
longer drunk with wine, he is filled with the Holy
Spirit. He knows, too, that his new experience is due
to God's power, "according to that working of the
strength of his might which he wrought in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead, and made him to
sit at his right hand in the heavenly places," the most
sublime of illustrations. Not the lapsed only, the
apparently susceptible, but the bigoted and fanatic,
like Luther himself, may be the subjects of divine
grace, should be offered the means of grace, and may
become the best of accessions.

Slav converts learn how America pours forth
increasing millions for the evangelization of all races,
in every clime, in every condition. And Slavdom,
with its needs, is to them an open book. In normal
times they are in unceasing communication with
kindred beyond the seas. A Slav obtains that incom
parable treasure, the Bible, and writes to a kinsman or
friend about it. The destination of that letter may be
Prague in Bohemia, or Brno in Moravia. It may be
Riga, the Baltic seaport, or Petrograd, or Moscow.
It may be Warsaw or Lodz, the great towns of Poland,

26 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

or Belgrade, in Balkan regions, or Odessa, the port on
the Black Sea, or Tiflis, in the Caucasus, or Vladivos-
tock, on the Pacific Ocean. It may be any one of the
vast number of Slav communities from the Adriatic
to the Pacific.

Now show these Slavs the nine volumes of the
Edinburgh Conference in 1910 and the three volumes
of the Panama Conference in 1916. The wonder
grows that Slavdom is omitted, when every logical,
doctrinal, strategic reason calls for its inclusion. The
Panama Conference was an American victory for
missions. In 1900, at the Ecumenical Conference in
New York, Latin America was included in the dis
cussions; but it was excluded from the Edinburgh
Conference, through the opposition of some German
societies and of elements in the Anglican Church.
They regarded it as nominally Christian. At Edin
burgh missionaries from Latin America drew up a
defense of their cause. They did not inquire whether
dominant churches in these lands are not Christian
churches, but affirmed that millions are there without
the Word of God and the gospel. The work of societies
in the United States and Canada has included missions
in Latin and Oriental churches, while British and
Continental societies have a narrower basis. The
action of these American missionaries led to the
Panama Conference; and their arguments lay the same
foundation for the evangelization of Slavdom. If the
Holy Spirit is poured out, why may not this Slav line
of progress become the most rapid and effective of all,
and a reenforcement for Christian missions in pagan
and Mohammedan lands?

Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu wrote three volumes on
"The Empire of the Tsars and the Russians," devoting
the third volume wholly to the subject of religion. His
purpose, like that of most writers on Slavdom, is not

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 27

evangelical, yet evangelical -readers may obtain sug
gestions from this work. He writes at length on relig
ious feeling in Russia, on the Greek Orthodox Church,
its usages, its clergy, married and unmarried; of the
Schism or Raskol, the various sects not in the national
Church, those that have priests, those that do not.

Turn to the pages where he describes parochial
visitations, where the "priest and deacon, in their
vestments, go from house to house to sing an * Alleluia.'
The moment they enter, they turn to the eikons in the
corner, rapidly recite the prayers for the occasion, give
the inmate the crucifix to kiss, pocket their money, and
go to the next house. . . . The clergy, on such occa
sions, frequently become the victims of a fine national
quality — hospitality. ... So the parish clergy travel,
. . . in full canonicals, dispensing blessings, and
everywhere receiving in exchange a 'drink' and a few
kopeks. The consequences are easily divined. By
nightfall there is little left of the priest. . . . Such
scenes are naturally not calculated to bring the dissen
ters back to the bosom of the Church. I once saw, in
Moscow, in a picture gallery belonging to a wealthy
raskolnik, a canvas by Perof representing just such a
scene. The priest, crucifix in hand, totters along, while
the drunken deacon soils the sacred vestments."

In contrast we have the volume of "Pastor's
Sketches" by the late Dr. Spencer, a Presbyterian
pastor of Brooklyn, New York. He gives a touching
account of his visits to a skeptical young Irishman, who
died a believer in the atonement of Christ, and his
interviews with the indifferent or irresolute, to whom
he gave the earnest message, "Behold, now is the day
of salvation!"

Dr. Dalton, of Petrograd, told a story of Lord
Radstock's evangelistic labors in that city, and of
his convert, Colonel Pashkof, which appeared in the

28 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Catholic Presbyterian of August, 1881. It illustrates
the possibilities for gospel work in Slavdom when
liberty is assured. Lord Radstock was an adherent of
Plymouth Brethrenism, somewhat modified; but the
story is not of theological tenets, telling rather how this
fisher of men used his net in the service of his Master.
He could address his hearers in French and English,
with which many of the Russian nobility were familiar,
and being a nobleman himself he could approach them
on an equal footing.

"His first appearance was somewhat strange. He
knelt in silent prayer, then invited the audience to
join him, as in the very simplest speech he lifted up his
heart unto God. He spoke in an ordinary conversa
tional tone, regarding those things of which his heart
was full. The loose threads of the somewhat vaguely
expressed argument were all connected with the ever-
recurring topic, the blessedness of those saved by
Christ — saved now, for the Saviour is ever present
and offers salvation to the sinner; and when this salva
tion has been truly received, he cannot be lost, for the
Good Shepherd watches over his sheep. . . .

"The worship of saints, and their supposed inter
cession, as maintained in the Russian as well as the
Roman Catholic Church, have an evil effect upon the
relation of the soul to the Saviour. Worshipers prefer
to address saints rather than the Saviour, shrinking in
their sinfulness before the majesty of the divine Son;
and to this feeling of aversion his future advent as the
Judge of the world, adds, as it were a fresh force."
Lord Radstock said nothing against the "Orthodox"
doctrine on this point; he carefully abstained from any
attack upon the Church of the country, and indeed
sought to maintain cordial relations with all. At the
same time he was able, by the grace of God, to bring
the personality of the Saviour, through the warm and

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 29

loving way in which he expressed himself, almost
into personal communication with the seeking and
longing souls whom he addressed. So it came to pass
with them, as with the disciples on a certain occasion,
"they saw no one, save Jesus only"; the cloudy veil of
saints disappeared like the veil of clouds on a morning
in spring; they saw before them in their devotions
Jesus only, the Light of the world, and felt how
graciously he laid his hands upon them, blessed, healed,
and comforted them, and forgave their sins. As we
are from youth accustomed to such views in evangelical
Churches, we do not readily comprehend what a power
ful effect is produced when these truths are first brought
home to the members of the Greek or the Romish
Church. This side of the truth, moreover, is not pre
sented and emphasized as it ought to be in the teaching
of the evangelical Church.

"For weeks, in the highest society, in the circles of
the nobility in Petrograd and Moscow, and even in the
distant provinces, the most frequently recurring name
was that of Lord Radstock. Some were enthusiastically
in his favor; some derided the wonderful saint. Some
'who came to scoff remained to pray.' '

Dr. Dalton then mentions one of these, Colonel
Basil Alexandrovitch Pashkof, who was one of the
richest men in Russia, who had in youth served in the
Guards, and had an early introduction to the highest
circles of the aristocracy. When converted by the
truth, "he took up the yoke of his Lord and Master,
Jesus Christ. The nobility of the man's character was
seen in the thoroughness with which, from the begin-
ming, he was ready to confess Christ. He soon became
the central point of the movement. . . . About this
time, Dr. Craig, of the Religious Tract Society, had
found his way to Petrograd, desirous of doing some
work of usefulness in the Russian capital, on the lines

30 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

of the society. The importance of such work was at
once discerned by Lord Radstock. The emperor had
already permitted the Bible to be circulated in the
vernacular language of the country, and it was impor
tant that the circulation should be urged forward
throughout the whole extent of the vast empire. If,
hand in hand with this dissemination of the Scriptures,
there could be circulated tracts and publications of a
character fitted to counteract the influence of per
nicious and revolutionary publications, which had
already begun to spread, it was clear that a most
important point would be gained."

Dr. Dalton then tells how the first meeting of a
new association for this purpose met in his house, also
the difficulties that were experienced in preparing suit
able literature, since mere translations from other
languages were often ill adapted to Russian needs.
He also describes the Christian activities of the
Pashkof circles in hospitals and prisons, giving details
of the conversion of a student nihilist, who himself
wrote a tract entitled "He Loves Me."

Further, he describes Colonel PashkoFs activities
as a lay preacher. In droshky stalls and factories,
year by year he carried on his work, telling his fellow
sinners in plain language of the Saviour he himself had
found. He strove to awaken first the consciousness of
sin and then to lead them to the Saviour who bestows
pardon and peace. "On Sunday evenings the people
assembled in PashkoFs own house; and the splendid
apartments which were formerly open only to the elite
of Russian society for balls now stood open and were
filled to overflowing by crowds, mostly belonging to
the very lowest orders of society, who desired to hear
the good news of salvation, and were moved to tears
and supplications for relief from the burden of sin."
Sometimes the crowd numbered as many as thirteen or

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 31

fourteen hundred. Dr. Dalton met a peasant far in
the interior of Finland, who said, "Pashkof has done
us much good." He was informed that many Finnish
laborers who worked in Petrograd had learned the Russ,
and attended the meetings, carrying the same doc
trines that they had learned to their distant homes.
Dr. Dalton also states how Colonel Pashkof courteously
wrote a letter in answer to a request by a Russian
Church dignitary, and depicted his own spiritual
development, in the heartfelt language of one who has
passed from death unto life, "who speaks in the joyful
tone of one who cannot wait to know whether his
utterances square with ecclesiastical standards or not."
The reply by this dignitary, also published, has "the
reserved language of one who is accustomed to regulate
all his utterances by such standards, and who is unable
to conceive that there is any truth which cannot be
regulated by them." Dr. Dalton in conclusion says
that the Pashkof meetings had been prohibited, and
that Pashkof had been requested to travel abroad for a
time. He returned unmolested, but his princely halls
were no longer crowded by willing hearers of the gospel.
His followers were still active in various charities.
Dr. Dalton's last sentence is: "The present arrest,
however, that has been laid on the work is not to be
regarded with dismay; there remains abundant encour
agement for the prayer of faith and the patience
of hope."

In a very different tone M. Leroy-Beaulieu relates
some later vicissitudes of this movement: "It would
be unjust to look on Pashkovism or Radstockism merely
as one of fashion's vagaries. . . . Neither Radstock
nor Pashkof claimed that they had invented a new
doctrine. They avoided all semblance of dogmatical
controversy, merely commenting on the gospel. The
success of this drawing-room revival was due princi-

32 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

pally to the fact that it answered a spiritual need too
long neglected by the Orthodox clergy. Since the
priests would not preach, laymen preached in their
place.

"The Pashkovites are not outside the pale of the
Church. They are a living proof of the great latitude
which can be enjoyed within her ancient precincts,
from the lack of authority on doctrine. For the
teaching of these Orthodox Evangelicals is tinged with
Protestantism, with Calvinism; it is based on justi
fication by faith, wherein it differs from that of
Sutayef and others, who declare religion to consist
entirely of works. The Radstockists believe them
selves to be assured of salvation when they feel inti
mately united with the Saviour. 'Have you Christ?'
Lord Radstock used to ask each of his hearers; 'seek
and ye shall find.' While the English lord could
address only society people, Mr. Pashkof extended his
apostolic work to the lower classes. He gathered
together in his own house all sorts and conditions of
men. . . . This was a great novelty for Russia,
where the cultured and illiterate were not heretofore
in the habit of being served with the same intellectual
nourishment. Similar gatherings took place in Moscow
and other cities, under the patronage of society women,
who took particular pleasure, in their own salons, in
seating the footmen behind the masters." He mentions
Mr. Pashkofs activity in publications, which were
scattered broadcast in thousands of copies as far as
the Caucasus, and in Siberia. The narrative continues:

"So long as Radstockism was confined to the
privileged classes, the government did not pay much
attention to it. If there is freedom anywhere in
Russia, it is in the drawing room. It was different
when the propaganda passed from the dress coat to
the sheepskin. The people, with their innate logic,

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 33

did not always observe, in their attitude toward the
Church and clergy, the deference dictated by good
taste which persons drilled in the compromises of
society life continued to show them. It happened, so
one of Mr. Pashkof's friends told me, that some
peasants heard him discourse on the uselessness of
ceremonies and observances; and the first thing they
did on returning to their izbas was to throw their
eikons out of the window. The imperial government
then thought it time to institute proceedings against
the preaching aristocrats. Mr. Pashkof was sent out
of Petrograd and advised to stay on his estates, then
invited to travel abroad. Count Korf also had to
leave the capital. The society founded by these
gentlemen was dissolved in 1884; their press organ, the
Evangelical Sunday Paper, was suppressed."

It is contrary to the Constitution of the United
States, and, thank God, to that of Czechoslovakia, to
forbid evangelical assemblies, preaching, teaching,
publications, and the formation of evangelical churches,
open to all qualified applicants. As it is the purpose
of this book to emphasize the significance of liberty
in the land of Huss, reference to Bulgaria, and to
Jugoslavia, is here omitted, except to mention that the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis
sions, also the Methodists, have had missions in
Bulgaria, duly reported in their publications. The
Great War has spread abroad American ideas, among
others, religious liberty, making it easier than before
to win friends for that cause. The world never will
find the way to safety and progress, until liberty for
the gospel is won.

No discussion of religion in Slavdom is adequate
without mention of its Reformation. Such mention,
among evangelical Bohemians, seems to be their irre
pressible habit. When they are to describe something

34 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

contemporaneous they seem instinctively to begin
with Huss or later Reformers. The suppression of
their Reformation was a trick of foreign oppressors.
The same oppressors tried to suppress their language,
their literature, their national spirit. Time was when
ninety-five per cent of their Bohemian population
was accounted evangelical. Persecutions, massacre,
exile, changed this, so that more than ninety-five per
cent for a long period has been nonevangelical. Poland,
too, had its Reformation, and Reformed churches, as
by a miracle, survive in both these Slav lands. Yet
there are books or chapters in books about the Reforma
tion which entirely omit the Slav Reformation, or
barely allude to it. It is like a discussion of the War,
which omits mention of any but the western front!
At one time it seemed probable that Slav evangelicals
would win great masses of Slavdom for the gospel.
At one time nearly all the Polish Parliament were
Protestants. If Calvin's hopes had been fulfilled, the
history of all Slav nations since his day would have
been different. His correspondence with Polish and
Bohemian evangelicals shows a zeal for the extension
of the gospel among these two Slav peoples that should
be imitated by his followers to-day. A brief account of
the Bohemian Reformation by Dr. W. G. Blaikie, the
"Story of the Bohemian Church,'' was published years
ago by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. Its
last paragraphs, doubtless the best that could then be
written about the needs of Bohemia, are now out of
date. As a counterpart the writer prepared an account
of the Polish Reformation, "Protestantism in Poland,"
published by the same Board. He was the more inter
ested in the subject from a knowledge of the noble
labors of Dr. R. J. Miller, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
in promoting the evangelization of Poles, and his
efforts to interest United Presbyterians and others in

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 85

that work. Dr. Miller has succeeded in obtaining aid
from the Presbyterian Board of Publication toward the
support of a Polish evangelical paper, Slowa Zywota.

On July 6, 1415, John Huss was burned to death by
decree of the Council of Constance, and on that date,
Bohemians of all creeds or of no creed unite to com
memorate his martyrdom. How is it that after five
centuries they still seem to worship that hero, and,
that as a proverbial consequence, there is "a spark of
Protestantism in every Bohemian"?

Huss was distinguished as a popular preacher. As
a Reformer, he was advancing on the same doctrinal
lines as his English predecessor, Wyclif. He opposed
the sale of indulgences. He desired the circulation of
the Scriptures, and that communicants should partake
of the cup as well as the bread, so that to this day,
"the Book and the Cup" are symbols of the Reformed
Bohemian Church. Huss so evidently loved the gospel
that a true Hussite is clearly evangelical, and in fact
Hussites were afterwards classed as Calvinists. Huss
also cultivated the novelty of congregational singing.
But as a patriot his name is endeared to multitudes who
care nothing for religious doctrines.

In 1409 German influence in the University of Prague
gave way to native Bohemians, by a change in the
voting. Then thousands of Germans departed and
formed the University of Leipsic, while Huss became
rector of the University. Huss reformed the spelling
of the language, and the diacritical marks of Bohemian
or Slovak are due to him, by which c, thus marked,
has the sound of ch in church, and s, similarly, is
sounded as in shall. His hand is thus seen in the
grammar of every modern Bohemian or Slovak sen
tence and in the development of the literature.

Through centuries of Hapsburg tyranny, the German
iron entered the Bohemian soul, so that Huss was

36 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

always the ideal of their national aspirations. Cru
sades were preached, hosts were assembled from nearly
all of Europe to crush this small nation in the Hussite
wars, but the genius of the Hussite general, Zizka, who
was never defeated, drove them back. His battle
hymn is still sung, in Bohemian and English, and is
published in a fine illustrated edition of Bohemian
folk songs, by Dr. Vincent Pisek, of New York City.
Other Hussite hymns are still sung in Bohemian
congregations.

Wily enemies took advantage of divisions in Bohe
mian ranks. The Utraquists, also known as Calix-
tines, from the chalice or cup which they demanded
for the laity, became the aristocratic party, and the
stricter Reform party, the Taborites, became the
democratic party, sometimes disastrously conflicting
with each other. The destruction of the Taborites
ended the Hussite wars. More than a hundred years
after the death of Huss, when Luther took part in the
famous disputation at Leipsic, he thrilled the audience
by daring to criticize the Council of Constance, and by
announcing himself in effect a Hussite. On November
8, 1620, the liberties of Bohemia were lost in the battle
of the White Mountain, and only restored in part by
the edict of Toleration in 1781. For over a hundred
and fifty years the Bible could have been read only at
the risk of life. Real religious liberty was assured by
the triumph of the Allies in 1918, and by the constitu
tion of Czechoslovakia, as well as by the character of
President T. G. Masaryk, who is of evangelical
affiliation.

Count Valerian Krasinski in 1838 dedicated his work
on the Polish Reformation, "To the Protestants of
the British Empire and of the United States, by a
Polish Protestant." For fifty years it made rapid
advances, and a glance at a map of that time, showing

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 37

swarms of evangelical churches in Poland would astonish
anyone ignorant of that history. An account of the
evangelical schools, printing presses, and Bibles of
that period would deepen the impression. In the next
fifty years there was a rapid decline. Finally Poland
itself, "after a career of degeneracy almost unexampled
in the history of the world," disappeared from the
map. Again we quote Dr. Dalton, when in 1884 he
addressed the Presbyterian Council at Belfast:

"It is my deepest conviction, as the result of long
years of study, that Poland has been strangled by the
Romish Church. Had that noble people remained
true to the leading of John Laski, then to the present
day had those melancholy words, ' 'Finis Poloniae,'
remained unspoken. If anyone wishes to understand
what the audacious man of Rome, with his bodyguard
of Jesuits, can make out of a noble country, let him
study the history of Poland to the present day, the
history of a people that, as few others, offered in its
worldly circumstances so many favorable points to a
Presbyterian development."

Chapter II

COLPORTAGE

THE form of evangelical effort known as colportage
has for a long time, and on a larger scale than any
other, been employed throughout the most of Slavdom,
and among multitudes in the United States. A col
porteur may not always be, as the French word sig
nifies, "one who carries" something "on his neck," yet
as a servant of Bible or tract societies he is a sort of
book agent, needing all the courage, tact, energy, and
perseverance that may be associated with that calling.
Some western cattlemen have amusingly confounded
the word with "cowpuncher." When such wrork began
in Japan, the natives called the colporteur "The-Holy-
Book-to-sell-go-about-man." Another beautifully ex
pressive term is "Bible messenger."

The colporteur is an itinerant, generally a lay
missionary. His main function is to distribute books,
not specially to hold prayer meetings, start new
Sunday schools, begin or organize new missions, or to
preach, though on occasion, if qualified, he may do all
these things. But if books are not circulated, Bible
societies must go out of business.

The colporteur promotes the reading of the Word.
A good statement of the relative importance of the
work is in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "The
Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the
preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing
and converting sinners, and of building them up in
holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation."
Preachers and missionaries often find colporteurs indis
pensable. Volumes might not suffice to tell of the mis-

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 39

sions that have originated from the reading of Bibles,
by individuals or groups, in widely different parts of
the world. It would be unjust to demand either from
colporteurs or preachers that they produce some
"permanent," showy results in some given time,
according to a critic's caprice. We cannot dismiss
Christ's rule for his Kingdom, "first the blade, then
the ear, then the full grain in the ear." The Egyptian
boatman casts his grain, his "bread" into the fertile
flood of the Nile, "upon the waters," but he does not
expect to find it till after "many days." Luther's
conversion is usually traced to his reading of the Bible,
which he first saw in Latin about the year 1504, when
he was twenty years old; while his Reformation dates
from 1517, years after.

Bible women have accomplished things in Christian
work that could not be done by an angel from heaven;
but it is best that our colporteurs should be men. They
may be required to carry from fifty to seventy pounds
of books, under a blazing sky, or through winter's
mud and snows and rains. They may walk through
lonely forests, or through dangerous city neighbor
hoods at night. They are "in journey ings often, in
perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by" their
own "countrymen, in perils by the" heathen, "in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils among false brethren." Students
on vacations may take up this work, men with years
of education, or new converts so illiterate that they
can barely scrawl their reports. Sometimes the
uneducated men make the best salesmen. It would be
difficult suddenly to abandon the support of an ordained
man, a lady missionary, a mission station. But a
colporteur may be supported in one region for a month,
transferred to another for three months or a year, on
short notice, to renew work whenever new occasions

40 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

call for it. "Uncle John Vassar," colporteur of the
American Tract Society, said that he was not a shep
herd, but a shepherd's dog, to bring the sheep to the
shepherd. Colporteurs are scouts of the Church. We
can say to a colporteur what Moses said to his friend :
"Thou mayest be to us instead of eyes."

Colportage is the most flexible, most economical, of
all Christian work, and it should be vigorously
increased at home and abroad. Colportage, moreover,
is a continuous survey, cheaper, more practical, and
more evangelistic than any other kind of survey.
Colporteurs often are required to pause, for some
purely humanitarian errand, in behalf of the sick, the
unemployed, the unfortunate, or those who may need
an interpreter.

The writer was superintendent of colportage for the
Young Men's Bible Society of Allegheny County at
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1900 and part of 1901.
This was the first work of the sort this venerable
organization had undertaken among foreigners. Two
of the lessons from that experience prove the great
usefulness of colportage:

First, as never before, the Slav colporteurs revealed
in that important center of evangelical churches the
accessibility of the Slavs. One day a colporteur re
ported that Schoenville, near the city, would be a
good place for a mission. The writer called the atten
tion of Dr. W. L. McEwan, his former fellow student,
to these facts. Dr. McEwan warmly welcomed the
idea, began a correspondence, learned the name and
recommendations of Rev. V. Losa, then a pastor of a
Bohemian Presbyterian Church at Clarkson, Nebraska,
and did not rest until the latter was called to begin
his mission at Schoenville. Developments made
necessary a joint committee of Pittsburgh and Alle
gheny Presbyteries and, later, the union of these two

WILLIAM L. McEWAN, D.D., LL.D.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 41

presbyteries, mainly for the more effective prosecution
of this work among foreigners. These brethren had
sturdy minds, and strong local attachments, old and
loved traditions, so that it cost a sacrifice of sentiment
and convenience to make such changes, all of which
began with these colporteurs. Dr. McEwan was an
unwearied advocate and leader in the cause, year
after year, and the results make up an important part
of the achievements of his ministerial career. In 1902
the joint committee of these two presbyteries began
colportage. No sales among Slavs had been reported
from any part of the United States that were greater
than those of the Bible Society at Pittsburgh. But
the first year's sales among Slavs by the Presbyterian
colporteurs were double those of the local Bible Society
for a corresponding period.

If colportage is a power for good in the region of
Pittsburgh, why not for other regions in this country?
With this conviction the writer corresponded with the
late Dr. J. A. Worden, with the result that the Pres
byterian Board of Publication in the summer of 1902
took up the work, the writer assisting in securing and
directing their first colporteur among Slavs, a Bohemian,
afterwards ordained as a minister, Rev. Frank Uherka.
This work was done in Lehigh Presbytery, beginning
at Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Some years ago the
estimate was made that the Presbyterian colportage of
the country, including this Board and Pittsburgh
Presbytery, exceeded that of the other denominations
combined. Boasting is excluded; for no denomination
has done all that it should have done for this work.

Another result was achieved by Slav colporteurs of
the Bible Society in Pittsburgh; they started a move
ment among translators across the sea. Bible trans
lators have been called "the pioneers of civilization;
but the pioneers of pioneers are the colporteurs," and

42 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

here is an instance. The colporteurs reported that
Lithuanians would not accept the Bibles that were
offered to them, as they were in an alphabet that they
did not use. Inquiry showed that for many years in
Russia there had been no permission to publish any
books in the Lithuanian language. Consequently the
Lithuanians were more destitute of Scriptures than the
Dakota Indians, who have the Bible in their own
tongue. The writer had a correspondence with the
British and Foreign Bible Society on this subject,
especially after he became pastor in 1902 at Shenan-
doah, Pennsylvania, which was a Lithuanian strong
hold. Questions arose as to the proper style for modern
Lithuanian. Copies of Lithuanian newspapers, pub
lished in America, in the Roman type used by the mass
of Lithuanians to-day, were obtained and sent to
London to the "B. F. B. S." And here the writer may
be allowed to pay an American's tribute to the officials
of that noble Bible Society, for the courtesy of their
correspondence, and the patience and perseverance
with which they met the problems of a new Bible
version. The chief correspondent on such questions
was the late Rev. John Sharp, of the Church of Eng
land, the editorial superintendent. His successor is
Dr. R. Kilgour, a Presbyterian, formerly a missionary
in India. At last Russia removed the ban from the
publication of Lithuanian Bibles. Colporteurs of the
Presbyterian Board of Publication have sold them in
America, and thousands of copies have been sold in
Europe.

At this point some explanations may naturally be
made as to Lithuania. Disregarding what some lexi
cographers or philologists may say as to the relation
between the Lithuanian and the Slavic group of lan
guages, the experience of colporteurs is that while Slavs
can communicate more or less readily with other Slavs,

THE COMING OP THE SLAV 43

they can scarcely understand one word of Lithuanian.
Lithuania was once part of Poland, and many Lithu
anians speak Polish, and thus communicate with Slav
colporteurs. It pleases them that they may claim a
high antiquity for their language, since scholars mark
the resemblance between the Lithuanian and the
venerable Sanskrit of India. But a professor in Oxford,
England, objects to the claim that Lithuanian is "the
oldest language in Europe," preferring to class it as a
"well-preserved language" whose literary monuments
are hardly more ancient than the Reformation era.
In a survey of Slavdom, waiving questions of linguistic
relationship, the practical fact is before us that Lithu
ania always did and must have dealings with the Slav
group, especially Poles and Russians; that the Great
War leaves it recognized as a separate nationality;
that it, too, proclaims religious freedom; and that it
has interesting Lithuanian Reformed Churches, having
knowledge and fellowship with Polish Reformed
churches and adherents who are leaders in Lithuanian
national affairs. In one of the Lithuanian publications
we may see a facsimile letter addressed by John Calvin
to their synod. The Reformers are their spiritual
ancestry. American Presbyterians should establish
regular communications with brethren of our own
branch of the Church of Christ, kindred who too long
have been obscure to us, who need a helping hand, and
who may have inspiring successes to comfort them for
centuries of hindrances.

Americans would learn many lessons, if they could see
the colporteur at his work. One of these men found a
group of men at cards, perhaps drinking, and was sa
luted with "Oh ! Go away ! We do not want your books !"

"Ah!" he answered, "that is not fair! You should
give me a hearing ! This book says, 'Husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the Church.' Is that a bad book?"

44 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

"Oh, well, maybe it is not such a bad book!"

"And this book says" — and as soon as possible, the
colporteur read the Book, and let it speak for itself.
If any asked about the Virgin Mary, he turned to a
passage where she is mentioned. If any inquired
whether the Book contains any prayers, he read,"Create
in me a clean heart, O God." Sometimes colporteurs
are asked if the Book tells anything about the sufferings
of Christ, and one colporteur said that he sold many
a New Testament after reading Matt., ch. 27, the
account of the crucifixion. Tears have streamed down
the faces of those who hear in their language this story
from the gospel.

Some of the anecdotes published by Dr. George W.
Montgomery in a booklet for Pittsburgh Presbytery are
worth repeating:

"Shortly after the work among the Slavonic people
was begun in Schoenville, in the year 1900, a Bohemian
man from Slavonia, Joseph Kujinek, was induced to
attend the meetings. The place where our meetings
were held was a small, unattractive rented room.
Joseph had been a bad character in the Old Country,
was often drunk, and his wife suffered greatly at
his hands. As soon as he entered our mission he became
very much interested in what he heard and hardly
three weeks elapsed before he was soundly converted.
He asked to be received into membership in the
mission. We were very careful about receiving
members into the mission, preferring to exercise a
watch over them, ofttimes for weeks, that we might
make no mistake. But we were obliged to make an
exception in the case of this man. His testimony was
so earnest and so touching that we admitted him at
once to full communion. He stayed with the mission
six months and was a most exemplary member.

"After six months he returned to his European home

i*j;

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 45

where he remained. Letters reached us of how tender
his meeting with his wife was. She went to the station
to meet a drunkard, as she supposed, from whom she
expected to suffer more than before, because she had
heard that he had joined the "Devil's Church" in
America. To her great surprise, however, he not only
did not go to the saloon, but when he reached their
home he opened a big book (Bible), read a chapter
from it, and knelt down and thanked God for a safe
return to his home. He read from his Bible every day
and was a very tender husband, a thing to which his
wife was not used. His wife was so moved after three
or four days that she begged him with tears in her eyes
to take her over to the same church to which he
belonged. The following Sunday they both made a
journey of three hours to the nearest Protestant
Church where they became members.

"Since that time they have lived a happy life in their
home though bitterly persecuted for their faith. When
Joseph learned that there were Protestants scattered
about in the neighborhood, he began to visit them and
within half a year he had found about sixty Protestant
families. He was eager for meetings, but there was no
building anywhere in the neighborhood which could be
rented for Protestant use. He therefore bought a little
house, made one room out of two, and began to gather
the Protestants every Sunday. Within two years this
work of one convert grew into a church.

"Mr. Medvid, a Ruthenian convert, who a few years
ago did not know of the existence of the Holy Book,
was converted in Schoenville. Right after his conver
sion he lost his job because he would not bribe his
bosses any more, he would not go to saloons, and he
would not swear. When he applied for work the boss
sent him to the church to pray. It was impossible for
him to get work hi Schoenville. He therefore moved to

46 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Coraopolis where he got work in an oil refinery. Almost
all the workmen there happened to be Protestants and
very good men. Before he got this job, however, he
walked across the country from Coraopolis to Moon
Run. When he was returning it was dark. Three men
held him up and demanded money. One of them was a
Negro who pointed a revolver in his face, threatening
to kill him. This is the characteristic reply Mr. Medvid
made to his threat: 'Money I have none, but as to
your killing me I want to say that I am not afraid.
My soul cannot be killed. It belongs to God.' Such
an unusual answer moved the Negro and he said: 'I
had a good Christian mother who taught me to believe
in God and obey him, but I went the wrong way. I
will not harm you. Here is your watch; go your way;
you are safe'."

An illustration of the power of the printed page in
shaping lives will be found in the following:

"In some unknown way a copy of the Krestanske
Listy, a paper that is published in Pittsburgh in the
Bohemian language and edited by Dr. Losa, super
intendent of the presbytery's foreign work, fell into
the hands of a Bohemian woman at Raccoon, Pennsyl
vania. She, together with her husband and quite a
colony of Bohemians, had been living a life of sin and
great indifference to religious matters for a number of
years. When this paper came into her hands she was
so deeply impressed with what she read that she came
twenty -eight miles to the city of Pittsburgh to seek
Dr. Losa and beg him to teach her more about the way
to Godo Her child of seven or eight years accompanied
her on this journey. More than two hours of time was
spent in the office where she was directed to look to
'the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world.' She went away from the office with her face
aglow with the new joy that had come to her by faith

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 47

in Jesus Christ. She returned to her home and in a
short time that entire community became quiet,
peace-loving, and orderly."

A brief account taken from a publication kindly
furnished by the superintendent, J. M. Somerndike, of
the work undertaken among Slavs by our Presbyterian
Board of Publication may here be sufficient:

"The efforts of the Board in behalf of foreign immi
grants may rightly be termed "evangelizing" because
they are concerned solely with the giving of the evangel
or glad tidings to the host of foreigners in America.
The Board's work is to sow the seed of the Kingdom,
preparing the field for cultivation and harvest. Its
efforts are confined to the preparation of evangelical
literature in the languages of immigrant peoples and
the distribution of such literature, together with the
Scriptures, through the work of colporteurs. These
colporteurs, who are missionaries in the truest sense,
canvass foreign colonies and settlements, especially
in the large cities, doing personal work besides gathering
information which frequently prepares the way for the
establishment of permanent mission stations.

"Apart from the preached Word, the most effective
means of spreading the gospel, especially among the
immigrants, is through the printed page. Who can
measure the far-reaching effect of the silent yet forceful
messenger of God's truth in the form of a brief tract or
leaflet placed in the hands of one who may be seeking
the light?

"While the Church continues to make liberal use of
literature in introducing the gospel into heathen lands,
it has been neglected in America, where it is even more
urgently needed. The influx of millions of immigrants
from southern Europe, speaking strange tongues, found
us unprepared. With a very inadequate supply of
evangelical literature in foreign languages, and with

48 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

only a few Protestant ministers who could speak the
languages of these newcomers, the Church found itself
well-nigh helpless to convey the message of the gospel
to any large numbers.

"The Missionary Department of the Presbyterian
Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, with
the assistance of other agencies, began to develop for
this new immigration a series of tracts and booklets in
the same manner as it met the immigrant problem of a
generation ago, when the majority of those who came
to our shores were from the countries of northern
Europe. The Board also saw the necessity of reviving
the work of the colporteur, who in former days had
rendered such effective service in reaching the Swedes,
Norwegians, French, and others who came to America
in the earlier immigration.

"A class of missionaries concerning whom we hear
and read but little, consists of the humble colporteurs,
or Bible men, who are taking the gospel to the people
of many tongues in the language of their native lands.
The colportage system of evangelization has been tried
and tested for centuries."

An account of the Slav periodicals published by
the Presbyterian Board is given in the supplement to
this book.

In the Russian Empire for a number of years, col
porteurs of the B. F. B. S. had special privileges from
the Russian Department of Railways in the granting of
free passes and for the free carriage of goods, thus
saving thousands of pounds for the Society. Steam
ship companies on the great Siberian rivers were like
wise generous. In one report from Siberia, mention is
made of an agent's journey of fifteen hundred miles,
first class and free of charge; and that the total weight
of Scriptures carried to and from the headquarters of
that agency in that year was seventy-six tons. When

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 49

the railways were congested during the War, these
privileges were withdrawn. The colporteurs accord
ingly did not sell so much on trains, but devoted them
selves to the towns, especially those that have rail
way junctions.

In the summer, every year, one of the colporteurs
journeyed from Petrograd to the White Sea. Among
other places, he would go to the island of the famous
Solovetsky Monastery, visited by thousands of pilgrims.
He always received a welcome there, sometimes, too,
much assistance in his colportage work, as the monks
take supplies for the pilgrims. At the Verkolsky
Monastery he once met the famous Father John of
Kronstadt, who was making a visit. He had tea and
dinner with him.

"You have for a long time been serving in the Society,
my friend," said Father John. "It is a good service —
one might call it apostolic."

"Yes," said he, "I am now in my thirteenth year of
service."

When Father John's steamer was leaving, the
colporteur asked if the former would give him passage
with him back to Archangel; Father John at once con
sented, and on the voyage spoke to him further about
his work as a colporteur, rejoicing at his great success.
When questioned about his health the colporteur
replied that now, thank God, he was well, but that
eighteen months before he had undergone a serious
operation.

"It is evident," said Father John, "that the Lord
still had need of you, as he has brought you back to
health and strength."

On that journey of six thousand miles, the colpor
teur circulated nearly three thousand copies of Scripture.

The same colporteur earlier in this tour arrived at
Archangel and found difficulty in obtaining a place

50 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

to store his stock of Scriptures, of which he had about
a thousand rubles' worth. He went to the archpriest,
and begged him to allow him to keep the books in the
cathedral building; his request was granted, thus saving
the Society all expense for storage. On another tour
he was in a barracks where three hundred workers
were quartered. His stock was rapidly exhausted, and
one man who took several copies was besieged by the
others: "Ivan Petrovitch! For Christ's sake, give me
one little book, and I shall always pray for you!"

A bookseller in Archangel remarked to him that in
the north he supposed sales of Scripture would be
small. "On the contrary," said the colporteur, "about
a hundred rubles [then ten pounds sterling] a week."
The bookseller wondered, for he himself did not sell as
many of such books in a year, and asked how the
colporteur managed it.

"I go everywhere," was the reply, "and wherever
there are doors open, there I offer the Scriptures.
Here, for instance, in your own street, I have sold
twenty-one copies in a drapery establishment and
twelve in a grocer's shop. I go to the people, I
bring the books under their noses, I tell them the
price. I show them that it is the gospel, and urge
them to buy— that is all." The report adds: "That
is all; but there lies in that just the very secret
of being a colporteur."

A suggestive paragraph in a B. F. B. S. report tells
how the men are selected and trained. A colporteur
is always admitted on probation for a period of from
six to nine months. He has to show what is in him in
the way of endurance, physical and moral; the col
porteur's life will try a man quite sufficiently in this
respect. He must show whether he has the gift of
making himself and his vocation acceptable to people
of different classes; he must show that he can exercise

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 51

practical wisdom in his going to and fro among the
people; he must show that he has some idea of the
higher nature of his calling as a bearer of the Word
of God:

"Probationers often fail to attain our standard for
admission to the full rank of colporteur. We hesitate
sometimes in the case of a man who proves himself to
have the salesman's gift but to be apparently devoid of
any other qualification associated with the name colpor
teur. Yet we have seen such a man — at first a mere
salesman, though a good one — begin in the course of
time to be interested in Bible circulation as such, and
at last become proud of his calling as a colporteur and
devoted to it. On the other hand, we have sometimes
to do with good and earnest Christian men whose
period of probation has shown them to have no aptitude
for colportage." Elsewhere in these reports a col
porteur whose reports were lengthy was advised to
"write less and sell more."

Speaking of objectors, a colporteur remarked that
the least dangerous unbelievers are those who discuss
Noah's ark, Balaam's ass, and Jonah's whale. Fre
quently we find testimonies to the Word of God from
surprising sources. On a train in Siberia one passenger
exclaimed: "Brothers, those of you who do not possess
a copy of this book, or have it in your homes, are not
worthy of the name of orthodox Christian. In this
book you will find knowledge, grace, and strength to
fit you for the battle of life." Several fellow passengers
then bought Testaments.

On another occasion a soldier stimulated sales in a
train by his exhortation: "Comrades, this book is for
all the orthodox, and is the Book of books. Come, all
who care for religion, and buy a copy!"

A colporteur on another train offered books to a
group of Kirghiz Tatars, who are Moslems. One of

52 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

them could read Russian characters, and taking a
copy of the four Gospels, he said: "I will buy the book.
I know its contents, and they are good." He advised a
Russian peasant sitting opposite to buy a book that
he was examining, saying, "In this book you will find
capital rules for daily life." The peasant did so, sur
prised that a Kirghiz should commend the Scriptures
to him.

In a Cossack village the priest said to his congrega
tion: "Brethren, we have among us to-day a man sent
our way with copies of the Scriptures, a colporteur. I
hope that in each house a copy of the Word of God
may be found. We all have need of this Book."

Another Siberian incident encouraged a colporteur.
A peasant thanked him for his persuasion to take a
New Testament the year before, saying that he was
fleeing from sin and believed in Christ. He had had a
discussion with a friend, Simon, about the passage in
Heb., ch. 11: "Women received their dead by a
resurrection: and others . . . that they might ob
tain a better resurrection." Simon supposed that
there must be two resurrections, but asked his friend
to explain it.

"I, how can I explain it to thee?'* was the reply.
"I'm no pope [priest], but I'll give thee my idea on the
verses. For example, thou and I are sad drunkards,
Simon, thieves, swindlers, and revelers; our wives
suffer all kinds of unpleasantness. They know no
rest, and are always anxious for our return, on which,
when we are drunk, we beat them unmercifully. Now
all of a sudden, you, Simon, and I, Achim, start coming
home sober to our wives, and begin to converse with
them about faith and God and the Scriptures, tell
them that we are now reformed men, take no part in
revels or rogueries, but become honest men, and never
touch vodka, or torment our wives. Is not that also,

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 53

Simon, a case of returning to our wives, having obtained
a resurrection and shaken off sin?" "I do not know,"
Simon answered, "but I think thou art talking sense,
and perhaps there are two resurrections."

"Six months have passed since then," said Achim
to the colporteur, "but drink has never passed his lips;
and this, mind you, is all the result of your selling me
that copy of the New Testament."

The region east of Lake Baikal is the most difficult
section of Siberia, with a sparse and migratory popula
tion. Some years ago an order was signed by the
commander in chief of the Kazan Military Circuit:

1. Prikaz (i. e., Order) No. 509, December 25, 1912.

Hereby is issued an order, to be carried out to the
very letter, without any deviation whatever, in all
companies and detachments of the regiments, at morn
ing prayers to read daily one chapter in succession of
the Gospels, in a clear, loud voice, and intelligible
manner.

The officers of the companies and detachments must
select the men who are to read the Gospels, as well as
see that this order is fulfilled to the letter, and duly
carried out.

For information: This order was issued for the Kazan
Military Circuit on December 7, 1912, under No. 359.

The report adds that if similar orders were every
where in force, it would pave the way for colporteurs to
gain access to Russian barracks in the Far East.

Just before the Holy Synod of the Russian Church
passed out of existence, it issued a permit for a reprint
of the 1907 edition of the Russian Bible, without the
Apocryphal books; and the Synodal Press, before it
was declared the property of the State, had the sheets
ready for delivery at the end of the year. This edition
of twenty-five thousand Bibles came at a time when
the stock of Bibles in various languages was exhausted

54 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

in Russia, and when, through the breakdown in trans
portation, no more could be had. When the railways
reopened for a while the B. F. B. S. books were accepted
free of charge, as under the old regime.

Some anecdotes are given concerning colportage
among Ruthenians, or as we may now designate them,
Ukrainians. One very successful worker at Breslau
said that of all the Slav nationalities passing through
that center, these were the most approachable, and
most receptive of gospel teaching. Thousands of
books sold there find their way to the villages of
Austria, and orders sometimes come to this Breslau
colporteur from Galicia. So, in the barracks at Prague,
a colporteur noted the avidity of Ruthenian soldiers to
possess the Scriptures. Poverty was a hindrance in
Galicia. In one village a group of men was formed to
purchase a Bible as common property; and it was
arranged that they should meet alternately in one
another's houses for the purpose of Bible study. Often
the colporteur was asked to tell stories from the Bible,
and he always did so. One little Ruthenian maid
bought a Gospel, and later the colporteur found her
reading aloud to a crowd of villagers. "Here is the
man from whom I bought it," she exclaimed, and in a
few minutes he had sold ten more Gospels, a Bible,
and several New Testaments. In the Bukowina a
saddler informed a colporteur that there were only
two complete Bibles, one of which wras in the hands of
the Pope of Rome and the other belonged to the
archbishop of Lemberg!

In the Bukowina, a colporteur working among Poles
and Ruthenians sold a Bible to a Roman Catholic
laborer, who said, "I am in perpetual wonder about
this book, for there is no book in all the world so suited
to all conditions in life, none so suitable for every rank
and class."

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 55

At a railway station in Russia a Polish soldier
recognized and hailed a colporteur who was offering
Scriptures to the men who were looking out of the car
windows. He had bought a Bible on that very spot,
on his way to the Far East, read it constantly, and
found in it the way of everlasting life. Then he turned
to his comrades and said, "Here, brothers, is the man
who sold me the Bible, and counseled me to read it
every day." As a consequence, the colporteur there
and then sold ten more Polish Bibles.

A Polish farmer was found, a man of saintly char
acter and life, who had bought a Bible nine years
before the colporteur's interview with him. A workman
bought a Polish Wujek Bible and went from house to
house reading it. This prepared the way, years after
ward, for the colporteur who sold copies in that village.
In a difficult region, a Polish family was visited that
needed a new Bible, since they had been reading their
copy for fifteen years. Another family near Cracow
had treasured their copy for twenty-five years, resisting
the priest in his efforts to obtain it. In Russian Poland
a family that had been converted by reading the Bible
had much trouble with their priest, who afterwards
became friendly and bought a Bible for himself, a rare
case. One enthusiastic laborer, a Pole, in East Prussia,
treasuring his Bible, declared that when he returned to
Austria he would tell his friends of the happiness he had
found through believing in Jesus Christ.

A curious story was reported from Germany. A
young man who bought a Polish Bible was jeered at
by his companions and took the Bible back to the
colporteur, who entreated in vain that he should keep
it. He finally left it on the fence by the roadside.
Some time afterwards this worker was accosted by a
woman who wanted to see his books. She had found
the Bible on the fence, took it home, and as it was in

56 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

her language, she would not be parted from it. In the
region of Moscow, a man made a special journey to
meet a colporteur and get a Polish Bible, as he had
seen one in the hands of a fellow villager.

Yet with painful monotony yearly instances are
given of opposition, intense, organized, from the
Polish Catholic priesthood, and in all parts of Poland,
Russian, Austrian, or German. A colporteur mentioned
a Pole who six years before had bought a Polish Wujek
Bible from one of the colporteurs in eastern Germany.
He discovered that he was a great sinner, but that he
could be saved, not by works but by faith. A priest
visited him, took the book from him, and kept it for
some time. The Pole went to law and obtained a judg
ment against the priest, who had to return the Bible.
The priest finally informed the Pole that he had been
shut out of the Catholic Church and declared a heretic.

In a village not far from the town of Posen a girl
was sent to a colporteur with a Testament that her
mother had bought, asking him to refund the money.
The girl said that her mother had ordered her to throw
the book into the fire, because it distinctly stated that
Peter had denied our Lord. The news went like wild
fire through the village that he was circulating books
slandering St. Peter. He complained that he was
hunted like a wild beast.

The priests visit all families where the colporteur
has been, and burn all the books he has sold. They
fulminate against him from the pulpit, warn school
children of his coming, publish descriptions of him in
the press, so that these workers are sometimes in
danger of their lives. Even the Wujek, a Catholic
version in Polish, is seized and burned. One Bible was
taken from a Pole in Galicia to be sent to Rome "for
the pope's inspection." He was assured that it might
be some years before the pope would send it back.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 57

In Posen the people regard tKe Bible as antagonizing
not only the Catholic Church but also the Polish nation.
They say, "These are Protestant books, which are
meant to steal our religion, after a law has been made
to steal our land." The people are in fear of the priests,
lest they refuse them the Communion and absolution.
On a steamer going from Warsaw to Plotsk, a man
asked a colporteur to come with him to a quiet part of
the vessel and give him a Bible "inconspicuously."
Often men and women who buy a Gospel hide it under
a pillow, for fear the priest might burn it. In Posen
the colporteur is often regarded as an emissary of
Prussia, and is hooted through the streets by the
children, or pelted with stones and heavy missiles.
Yet encouraging hopes are expressed in one of these
reports that the Poles, who are a religious people, will
some day be transformed, when they become a Bible-
reading people. Some Poles declared to a colporteur
that they had lost faith in their priests.

The same opposition from a Romish priesthood is
seen among Slovenes and Croatians. The question
naturally arises as to whether this is because the Bible
if known would end their domination. We read of a
woodman who bought a Slovenian Testament with
eagerness. After finishing work at one place, a col
porteur, himself a Slovene, found a man following him
through the forest. He had had a copy of the Scriptures
which the priest had taken from him. For more than
an hour the colporteur talked with him in the forest,
and after that Bible class, the Slovene returned,
rejoicing in his new copy of the Word. Another
Slovene in South Styria asked him whether his books
contained anything about the Virgin Mary. It was a
lucky thing that he satisfied him, as it was the man's
intention otherwise to throw him into a pond. In one
place a priest preached against the B. F. B. S., saying

58 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

that it was the ruin of the Holy Catholic Church.
"This Society offers us its books, but they are poison
ous. Many have fallen from the faith through this very
Society, whose books teach a different faith than ours."

The B. F. B. S. report for 1908 gives an account of
the restrictions and delays and some instances of perse
cution in colportage work. The situation was intoler
able. In some provinces, regions visited by throngs
of American tourists, in Upper Austria, the Tyrol,
Vorarlberg, and Salzburg, licenses were withheld from
the colporteurs. It was a crime to sell a Bible in Vienna !
Yet Rosegger, Austria's greatest novelist, said: "I can
never weary, all my life long, of pointing to the gospel.
In Austria, where this Book lies fallow, we little dream
what lies therein, how it encourages, elevates, and
inspires suffering, wrestling, hopeless men. After the
day's labor we lie down in our beds, full of care. That
which we have sought and wished we have seldom
attained, and the morrow sees once more the beginning
of the worry and struggle of existence. How would it
be, were we to take every evening that immortal book
which is called the New Testament, and read a chapter
or two aloud in our family circles and speak about what
we have read? In this way we should disperse many a
dark cloud. We should conquer our lot, instead of
being conquered by it."

Croatia is rated as a difficult field. Yet a Turk
bought a Croatian Bible from a colporteur. A gendarme
bought a Croatian Testament. A keeper of a light
house ordered a Croatian Bible after the colporteur
explained to him that the Bible was a great Light.
Another was sold to a burgomaster who borrowed the
money for it from a policeman. A young lieutenant
said: "You sold a New Testament to one of my men.
I have been reading it with great pleasure." Later
on he visited the colporteur and bought a Croatian

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 59

Bible. A high government official in one of the courts
to whom he had brought a Bible held it aloft and said
to his friends: "Gentlemen, this is the most important
book in the world. It should have its place in every
house and be read in every family."

By contrast the colporteur's work is easier in Serbia
and Bulgaria. A report says: "In Serbia we enjoy
perfect freedom to carry on our work. The priests of
the Serbian Greek Church are, as a rule, friendly. One
priest bought over two hundred New Testaments for
the members of his community." Priests tell the
colporteur of the altered lives of those of their flock
who study the Scriptures; peasants speak of the young
men of their villages ceasing to follow ungodly ways
since the Bible has been introduced among them. "As a
rule, the Serbian loves the Scriptures. In this, he
resembles his Russian cousin." Some Serbians said
to the Bible man, "We do not want novels, but some
thing about Jesus Christ." Another Serb said: "I
would not resell my Bible for ten times its price. The
money which it costs is as nothing to the treasure it
contains." This last incident occurred in the wilds of
southern Croatia. On a festival of the Greek Orthodox
Church some Serbian young men bought Scriptures for
their partners in a dance.

The B. F. B. S. in Bulgaria has the northern half of
the kingdom as its field, while the American Bible
Society works in the southern part. Almost every
year, the B. F. B. S. reports work done through the
American Methodist Episcopal Mission which had its
headquarters at Rustchuk.

An officer in Rustchuk said to his men, "Buy this,
read it attentively, and you will find it good both for
your bodies and your souls."

"But sir," said a soldier, "some say it is a Protestant
book."

60 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

"Yes, it is a Protestant book, because it always
protests against sin and wickedness."

One aged priest took a New Testament from the
hands of the colporteur and held it forth to the assem
bled people, saying, "This is the holy gospel, the record
of the words of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ."
Then turning to the colporteur he said, "God bless
you abundantly, my son, that your work may prosper
to the salvation of our beloved nation."

A chorister said to a colporteur, "Although I have
been singing for years in the Orthodox Church, I found
nothing to feed my soul upon, such as I find now in
the New Testament."

A priest at the Rustchuk railway station said to a
Bible man, "You have a blessed lot in being privileged
to distribute this Word of Life." Then turning to the
bystanders he said, "Every household which does not
possess this Book, and read it every day, is not worthy
to be called a Christian household."

Without giving further instances, we may quote
once more: "Everywhere we are met by kind advice
and encouragement from those in authority who wish
to strengthen the interest of the Bulgarian people in
the New Testament."

The classic poem in English that portrays the soul
of colportage is Whittier's "The Vaudois Teacher."
It is well adapted for missionary programs.

"O lady fair, these silks of mine are beautiful arid

rare —
The richest web of the Indian loom, which beauty's

queen might wear;
And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with

whose radiant light they vie;
I have brought them with me a weary way — will my

gentle lady buy?"

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 61

And the lady smiled on the worn old man through the

dark and clustering curls
Which veiled her brow as she bent to view his silks and

glittering pearls;
And she placed their price in the old man's hand, and

lightly turned away,
But she paused at the wanderer's earnest call — "My

gentle lady, stay!"

"O lady fair, I have yet a gem which a purer luster

flings
Than the diamond flash of the jeweled crown on

the lofty brow of kings —
A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue

shall not decay,
Whose light shall be as a spell to thee and a blessing

on thy way!"

The lady glanced at the mirroring steel where her form

of grace was seen,
Where her eye shone clear, and her dark locks waved

their clasping pearls between;
"Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou traveler

gray and old,
And name the price of thy precious gem, and my page

shall count thy gold."

The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, as a small

and meager book,
Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his folding

robe he took!
"Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove as

such to thee!
Nay — keep thy gold — I ask it not, for the WTord of

God is free!"

62 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

The hoary traveler went his way, but the gift he left

behind
Hath had its pure and perfect work on that high-born

maiden's mind,
And she hath turned from the pride of sin to the

lowliness of truth,
And given her human heart to God in its beautiful hour

of youth !

And she hath left the gray old halls, where an evil

faith had power,
The courtly knights of her father's train, and the

maidens of her bower;
And she hath gone to the Vaudois vales by lordly feet

untrod,
Where the poor and needy of earth are rich in the

perfect love of God!

A history of colportage could be made a compre
hensive affair. We might go back to apostolic days,
and refer to the earliest Christian itinerants. Paul
asked Timothy to bring with him the "books, especially
the parchments." Dr. C. R. Gregory says that it
would be difficult to discuss intelligently the question
of the spread and general acceptance of the books of
the New Testament among the Christians of the
various lands and provinces, without referring to the
possibilities of travel then and there. He says that a
Roman in Greece or Asia Minor or Egypt would have
been able to travel as well as most of the Europeans
who lived before 1837. At that time many people
traveled pretty much all over the world that was then
known, which was the Roman Empire. The freight
ships of the Mediterranean were not small, and they
carried large cargoes of grain with the most punctual
regularity. Along the splendid Roman roads Caesar

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 63

traveled from Rome to the Rhone in his four-wheeled
carriage in about eight days, making seventy-seven
miles a day. In his two-wheeled light carriage he
made ninety-seven miles a day. An inscription tells of
a merchant in Hierapolis who traveled from Asia
Minor to Italy seventy-two times.

At the Ecumenical Conference in New York in 1900,
Canon Edmonds remarked: "From whichever of the
great missionary centers we start, from Antioch, from
Alexandria, from Carthage, or from Constantinople,
the footprints of the translator of the Bible are there.
Beautiful are their feet, and their footprints are not
only beautiful but indelible." Christian travelers then
did the work of the modern colporteur, and spread
abroad the ancient Gospels in the original Greek, also
in Coptic, in Syriac, and in Latin, thus reaching im
portant centers and provinces of the Roman Empire.
Later, in more distant regions, even beyond the boun
daries of the Romans, they carried Gothic, Anglo-
Saxon, or the Slav Scriptures of Cyril and Methodius.
The stream of such a history becomes broader when
we reach the times of Wyclif, the "morning star of the
Reformation."

Mrs. Conant speaks of Wyclif 's version as "England's
first Bible, and for a hundred and thirty years her only
one. The great, practical Reformer had not urged
through this gigantic task as a mere experiment. He
had his eye on a definite, practical result, the means
for accomplishing which were in his own hands. . . .
He had at command one of the most effective agencies
of modern publication. The active, hardy, itinerant
preachers whom he had sent out to proclaim by word
of mouth glad tidings to the poor now formed a band
of colporteurs for the written Word." Dr. Fisher in
his history of "The Reformation" says of the Wyclifites
or Lollards, "They were not exterminated; but the

64 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

principles of Wyclif continued to have adherents in
the poor and obscure classes in England, down to the
outbreaking of the Protestant movement." Then
came the Reformers, who had a vast advantage over
their predecessors in the printing press, with its streams
of Bibles in the principal tongues of Europe, and an
unknown, immortal host of distributors. Dr. Fisher
says, again: "In all Protestant lands, the universal
diffusion of the Bible . . . has carried into the
households, even of the humblest classes, a most effec
tive means of mental stimulation and instruction."

America may never know how much she owes to
colportage. At the time of the organization of the
American Bible Society in 1816 it was estimated that in
eight states and territories alone there were still
seventy -eight thousand families destitute of the Word
of life. Samuel J. Mills in his missionary journeys
met a man in Illinois who said that he had been trying
for ten years to buy a Bible. It was brought home to
his heart that this man wras one thousand miles from
any place where a Bible could be printed, and that
many people in that wilderness must remain thus
destitute to the end of their lives. Eminent patriots,
statesmen, educators, were in the convention that
organized the American Bible Society in New York
City in May, 1816. In his "Centennial History of the
American Bible Society," Dr. Henry Otis Dwight says:
"One of the great facts of Bible distribution is that
multitudes who have never read the Bible are every
year persuaded by the colporteurs to read the Book,
and are led to yield to its influence for good."

The greatest development of colportage the world
had seen was during the nineteenth century, through
the Bible societies. The British and Foreign Bible
Society was organized at the London Tavern in March,
1804, and its "Centennial History" was written by

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 65

William Canton. A history of colportage must very
largely employ the records of the American Bible
Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society.
But for a long time the British and Foreign Bible Society
had the distinction of being greater than all other
Bible societies combined. In its yearly reports of
funds expended, workers employed, Scriptures dis
tributed, new translations or revisions of translations
of Scripture, and languages used, it far surpasses the
American Bible Society. Where is the Christian patri
otism of America, which can calmly allow so large a
part of the world's burden of need thus to rest upon
British shoulders? American enthusiasm for its own
Bible Society seems feeble and faint in comparison
with the powerful organizations, the demonstrations of
loyalty and affection, that continually support the
British and Foreign Bible Society, which is the greatest
colportage agency in the world. In the spring of 1920
it reported at its annual meeting that through col
porteurs in the previous year it had placed nearly five
and a quarter million volumes in the hands of people
speaking hundreds of tongues. This result, which is a
quarter of a million greater than in 1918, "appears the
more remarkable when we recollect that in central and
eastern Europe, as well as in Russia, hardly any of our
colporteurs have as yet been able to resume their work
since the war." From the monthly magazine of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, June 1921, we
further quote concerning the 538 versions in the
Society's historical table of languages: "Of these, 160
fresh names have been added since the present century
began. The list now includes the Bible completed in
135 different forms of speech, and the New Testa
ment completed in 126 others." This statement shows
us all the kingdoms of the world as the field for col
portage.

66 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

The report of the British and Foreign Bible Society
for 1910 states that in 1909 the Holy Synod of Russia
refused to authorize an edition of the Russian Bible
without the Apocrypha. Accordingly the Society for
years could circulate in Russia only the New Testa
ment, or Pentateuch, or Psalms, or other portions, and
the report says, "Thus the problem of the Apocrypha
meets us at every turn on the Continent of Europe."
Between the years 1821 and 1820 a controversy was
carried on which resulted in the exclusion of the Apocry
pha from all Bibles issued by the British and Foreign
Bible Society. At that period the Scottish Bible
societies withdrew, later forming the National Bible
Society of Scotland. These two Bible societies, also
the American Bible Society, agree in this principle and
exclude the Apocrypha from their publications. The
Jews did not accept the Apocrypha as inspired, and
these books are not in Hebrew Bibles. Jesus, also the
New Testament writers, freely quoted from or alluded
to the Old Testament, but never the Apocrypha.

Three forms of the Apocrypha exist, first in the
Greek Old Testament of the second century B.C. A
legend narrated that it was made by seventy trans
lators, hence its name, the Septuagint, from septuaginta,
the Latin for "seventy," also its symbol, the "LXX."
For hundreds of years this first translation of the Old
Testament was the most widely circulated Bible, many
Jews using Greek, though the existing copies are from
Christian sources. Many leading Fathers of the
Church in western Europe, including Augustine him
self, never knew Greek. In the fifth century A.D.
Jerome, the most learned of ancient translators,
finished the Latin Vulgate, and included the Apocrypha,
with some changes from those of the "LXX." For
flip; Viilxm.te editions omit tlif Third Bonk of

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 67

not inspired, and that "it requires the utmost prudence
to extract gold from mud." But he placed after
Revelation, at the close of the book, III and IV Esdras,
and the Prayer of Manasses, which both Catholics
and Protestants reject as not canonical. The West
minster Confession of Faith, in the first chapter, says,
4 'The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of
divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of Scripture;
and are therefore of no authority in the Church of God,
nor are to be any otherwise approved, or made use of,
than other human writings." The Council of Trent
said, "If anyone receive not, as sacred and canonical,
the said books entire with all their parts as they have
been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as
they are contained in the old Latin vulgar edition, let
him be anathema." Accordingly, we have the list of
the LXX; then also, with changes in arrangement and
verses (for instance, in Esther) , in the Vulgate editions ;
and lastly, in modern Catholic Bibles, as in the English
Douay, the list of the Vulgate, but omitting the three
above mentioned. Thus we have eleven: Tobit,
Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch (including the
Epistle of Jeremiah), the two books of the Maccabees,
the additions, or "The Rest of ... Esther" and three
additions to the book of Daniel, namely, the Song of
the Three Holy Children, The History of Susanna, and
Bel and the Dragon. There are no Apocrypha for the
New Testament, the problem wholly concerning the
spurious additions to the Old Testament.

The late Dr. B. B. Warfield's explanation of inspira
tion was that it is "the fundamental quality of the
written Scriptures, by virtue of which they are the
Word of God, and are clothed with all the character
istics which properly belong to the Word of God.
Accordingly, the very words of Scripture are accounted
authoritative and 'not to be broken'; its prophecies

68 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

are sure; and its whole contents, historical as well as
doctrinal and ethical, not only entirely trustworthy
but designedly framed for the spiritual profit of all
ages." On the other hand, the reader's attention is
invited to passages of the Apocrypha, showing errors
of fact and history, errors of doctrine, where falsehood
or other crimes are praised, morality based on expedi
ency, alms commended as atonement for sin, and
approval of prayers for the dead, or to saints. A vast
amount of evangelical literature is safer and saner than
these writings.

In Tobit 1 : 4, 5, we learn that the ten tribes revolted
from Judah under Jeroboam in Tobit's youth, making
him two hundred and seventy years old at the time of
the Assyrian Captivity. But, ch. 14 : 2, he died at
the age of a hundred and two years, (or in LXX
14:11, a hundred and fifty -eight years.) An angel,
ch. 12 : 15, calls himself Raphael, also one of the cap
tives of the tribe of Nephthali, ch. 7 : 3, also ch. 5 : 18,
that he is Azarias, son of Ananias, and as Dr. W. H.
Green remarks, contrary to all analogy of angels' visits,
goes on foot with Tobit, three hundred miles.

In Judith 1:5, Nebuchadnezzar reigns in Nineveh,
whereas Babylon was his capital. Holofernes' march
was a "most extraordinary zigzag." Joachim or Elia-
chim is said to have been the contemporary high priest,
"whereas there was no high priest of this name until
after the Exile, and then the kingdom of the Medes,
ch. 1 : 1, had passed away "

The story of Esther begins, ch. 1:3, in the third
year of the king's reign, Esther is presented to the
king, ch. 2 : 16-21, in the seventh year, but in the
Apocryphal addition, ch. 11:2, Mordecai is rewarded
in the second year. The cause of Hainan's hatred
for Mordecai, ch. 3, is contradicted by the addition,
ch. 12 : 6. And, ch. 16 : 10, Hainan is a Macedonian,

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 69

v. 14, seeking to transfer the Persian kingdom to the
Macedonians.

Wisdom claims to have been written by Solomon,
ch. 9 : 7, 8, "Thou hast chosen me to be a king. . . .
and hast commanded me to build a temple." In
ch. 15 : 14, "The enemies of thy people, that hold them
in subjection," contradicts I Kings 4 : 20-25, since
there was no such subjection in his time. He wrote
in Hebrew; but in the LXX ch. 4:2 are words
borrowed from Grecian games not in use till long after
Solomon's time: "It triumpheth crowned for ever, win
ning the reward of undefiled conflicts." See also ch.
10 : 12. There are imaginary additions to the miracles,
ch. 16 : 20, 21 : "Thou didst send them from heaven
bread . . . agreeing to every taste . . . and
serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to
every man's likings." So, in the sixteenth and seven
teenth chapters are additions to the words of Moses
concerning the plagues of Egypt. A wrong significance
is given to the priest's dress, "a virtue which was
due only to his office and mediation," ch. 18 :24, "for
in the long garment was the whole w^orld." Chapter
10 : 4 mentions the murder of Abel as the cause of the
Flood. In ch. 14 : 15 idolatry is traced to fathers
making images of their dead children, instead of the
reason in Rom. 1 : 21, "Their foolish heart was dark
ened." There are also quotations, somewhat modified,
from Isaiah who lived long after Solomon: ch. 13 : 11
from Isa., ch. 44; ch. 11 : 23 from Isa. 40 : 15; ch.
5 : 18-21 from Isa. 59 : 16, 17.

Baruch, a "pious fraud," ch. 1 : 15, quotes the prayer
of Daniel from his ninth chapter; and ch. 2 : 11 quotes
Neh. 9 : 10, whereas, Nehemiah and Daniel lived in
later times than Baruch and Jeremiah. Baruch 1 :
1-3 says that Baruch was in Babylon when Jerusalem
was taken, contradicting Jer. 43 : 6, 7, saying that

70 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Jeremiah and Baruch were taken to Egypt. Baruca
1 : 7-10 refers to the Temple as still standing; but
the Temple was burned when Jerusalem was capturec .
After the Exile, Ezra 1 : 7, Cyrus brought forth and
sent back to Jerusalem the vessels which had beei
taken by Nebuchadnezzar; Baruch 1 : 8 says they wera
sent back in the time of Jeremiah. Baruch 1 : 14 says
this book was to be read in the Temple of the Lore ,
but there is no trace of such a custom among the Jews.
The Epistle of Jeremiah inserted in a different plac3
from its position in the LXX, says, Baruch 6 : 2, that
the Captivity in Babylon was to be seven generations,
though Jeremiah prophesied that it would be seventy
years.

Of the additions to Daniel, The Song of the Three
Children, inserted in the third chapter, is not appro
priate to its occasion, which was their deliverance from
the fiery furnace; for instance, "O ye ice and snow
. . . O whales, and all that mo vein the waters!" Verso
47, of Catholic Bibles adds a statement not warranted
by Daniel: that the flame mounted up above the
furnace forty and nine cubits. The History of Susanna,
ch. 13, vs. 54, 55, 58, 59, quoted by Jerome, has
plays upon Greek words in the LXX, demonstrating
clearly its Greek origin, whereas Daniel was written
mostly in Hebrew, with chapters or passages in Ar
amaic. The third of these additions, styled by Saint
Jerome, the "fable" of Bel and the Dragon, Dan.,
ch. 14, opposes the statements of Daniel in several par
ticulars. The two books ascribe the hatred of the great
men against Daniel to completely different causes; as
one writer says, "Both cannot be true; and we are in no
difficulty as to which we should give the preference."

Historians do not confirm the statement, I Mace.,
1:6, 7, as to the death of Alexander. And con
cerning the Romans, I Mace. 8 : 16 is incorrect, "And

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 71

that they committed their government to one man
every year, who ruled over all their country." Anti-
ochus dies in Babylonia, I Mace. 6 : 4, 16, but is be
headed in Persia, II Mace. 1 : 13, 16, and dies of a
plague in the mountains, II Mace. 9 : 28. II Macca
bees abounds in fables, for instance, about the sacred
fire, ch. 1 : 19, about Jeremiah in Mount Nebo, ch.
2 : 4, and about the apparition that prevented Helio-
dorus from invading the sanctity of the Temple,
ch. 3 : 25. The LXX in II Mace. 1 : 18 says more
plainly than the Vulgate and Catholic Bibles, that
Nehemiah built the Temple and the altar, which were
built long before he came from Persia, Ezra 3 : 2.

Concerning any claim to inspiration, see II Mace.
15 : 39, almost the end of the book, "Here will I make
an end, and if I have done well, and as is fitting the
story, it is that which I desired: but if slenderly and
meanly, it is that which I could attain unto." Calvin
in his "Antidote to the Council of Trent" exclaimed,
"How very alien this acknowledgement from the
majesty of the Holy Spirit!" Also the prologue to
Ecclesiasticus : "Wherefore let me entreat you to read
it with favour and attention, and to pardon us, where
in we may seem ... to come short of some words.
. . . For the same things uttered in Hebrew, and
translated into another tongue, have not the same
force in them." Perplexity arising from the absence of
a prophet is alluded to in I Mace. 4 : 46; 9 : 27; 14 : 41.'

More serious than errors of fact are errors of doctrine.
In Tobit the angel's falsehood has been mentioned.
Judith, ch. 9 : 13, prays for a blessing upon her false
hood: "Do thou strike him by the graces of my
lips." By the way, this book is the only evidence
in history of the existence of such a place as
Bethulia. Judith's conduct is praised. Ch. 15:10-12.
In ch. 9, she praises the crime of Simeon, which is con-

72 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

demned in Gen., ch. 49. Yet, ch. 11 : 10-13, a breaci
of the ceremonial law, is thought a deadly sin. Ii
Tobit 6 : 19 the angel advises him to lay the liver of
the fish on the fire, that the evil spirit may be driven
away; with which we may compare Matt. 17 :21,
"This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fast
ing." And ch. 12 : 12, the angel as mediator con
veyed his prayer to the Lord, contrary to I Tim,
2 : 5, "one mediator." As to alms, Tobit 12 : 9, "Alms
delivereth from death, and the same is that whicii
purge th away sins, and maketh to find mercy and lifo
everlasting." See also ch. 4 : 9-12 and Ecclus. 3 : 33. In
Wisdom, it seems that the doctrine of emanation is
taught, ch. 7 : 25; also the preexistence of souls, ch.
8 : 19, 20; also, the creation of the world from
preexisting matter, ch. 11 :18; and that "the corruptible
body presseth down the soul," ch. 9 : 15. Ecclus.
12:5-7, "give not to the ungodly: hold back thy
bread, and give it not unto him," differs from the
Sermon on the Mount. So also, ch. 33 : 25-30, advising
cruelty to slaves, and the expression of hatred, ch.
50 : 27, 28. Its morality is based on expediency, ch.
38 : 16-18, "Let tears fall down over the dead . . .
use lamentation, as he is worthy, and that a day or two,
lest thou be evil spoken of." Baruch 3 : 4 has been
used as a proof text for praying to saints: "Hear now
the prayers of the dead Israelites." See also II Mace.
12 : 41-46, "It is therefore a holy and a wholesome
thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed
from sins," and ch. 15 : 14, the vision of Jeremiah, the
dead prophet, praying for Israel. II Mace. 14 : 37-46
commends the suicide of Razias.* These quotations
complete a chain of evidence showing errors in all
these apocryphal books.

* Dr. W. H. Green of Princeton, New Jersey, "General Introduc
tion to the Old Testament, The Canon."

Chapter III
EARLY MISSIONS AMONG SLAVS

THE views of Dr. Montgomery as to the principles
of missionary work among foreigners are well known
among his brethren. His great emphasis was for the
gospel and its proclamation. From unpublished por
tions of a manuscript that he prepared we have here
his statements of the true and only foundation for all
this work:

"From a forest-clearing, river-trafficking hamlet,
Pittsburgh has sprung forward within a century to
leadership in the world's great centers, industrially,
commercially, educationally, and religiously. The
question of what she may be in the future, and what
her influence on the world will be, will depend upon
whether her citizens have the courage, at any cost to
themselves, to maintain for themselves and transmit
to their children the heritage of faith in and devotion to
the God of their fathers, by the dissemination of the
teachings of an open Bible; against such the gates of
hell shall not prevail." He adds his conviction that the
people have such courage, and that the thing will be
done. He further discusses the obligation of the
Church:

" 'As the Father hath sent me into the world, even
so send I you,' was spoken to the Church, and nothing
short of a full surrender and a complete dedication on
the part of the Church can possibly please him who
gave the commission while he himself stood within
the shadow of Calvary. The whole life and purpose
of the Son of God in this world was an interpretation
of the character of God and a manifestation of the

74 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

immeasurable love of God for the human race and r.
revelation of the unspeakable hatred of God for sii
which is the curse of that race. When Christ came intc >
the world it was because 'God so loved the world, thai
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believetl
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' . .
It is therefore clearly the business of the Church to inter
pret to the whole world the character and purpose of
Christ, as it was his business to interpret the heart of
God the Father. 'Go . . . make disciples of al'
nations' — this is the commission. It is not difficult oi
interpretation. There is no ambiguity here.

"The field is 'white already unto harvest.' No such
opportunity was ever before given to any nation as is
given to the Church now in the United States of Amer
ica. If to the stranger within our gates is given the
helping hand as he comes with the hand of help, if the
nations of the world mingling in the toil of American
industry learn not to hate one another, if old mis
understandings which have caused bloodshed and
bitterness may be corrected, if somehow there may
come out of the 'melting pot' a flow of humanity that
has been freed from dross and superstition, if the
blight of centuries of spiritual tyranny and priestcraft
can be cured by the illumination of the intellect and
the regeneration of the soul, then will American liberty
be secure, and eastern and southern Europe will be
aroused to greater and better things through the return
of their sons, who in America, like Onesimus with Paul
at Rome, have come back in newness of life and purpose
to enrich the homeland in that which is worth far more
than gold."

A few years prior to the establishment of Presby
terian work among Slavs in western Pennsylvania,
missions had been begun among the French and Italians
in Pittsburgh and Allegheny Presbyteries. History

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 75

must here record the labors of a faithful man of God,
Rev. John Launitz, for many years pastor in Alle
gheny of the German Presbyterian Church, who could
also preach in English, French, and Italian.

Slavs in the Pittsburgh region outnumber French
and Italians combined. From the time that Slav
evangelization was first suggested here, Dr. W. L.
McEwan, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church,
Pittsburgh, was its leader and champion. If docu
mentary evidence of this were desired, it might be
seen in two of his published discourses, the first being
an address before the Presbyterian Synod of Pennsyl
vania, October, 1902. Here he describes the nature and
the needs of the newer immigration: "The first diffi
culty that confronted us in our efforts was the lack of
qualified men to w^ork among these people. It is
hardly possible to secure from the old country Protes
tant ministers to undertake unorganized mission work.
After much correspondence [doubtless largely conducted
by Dr. McEwan himself] we were able to secure Rev.
V. Losa, to whose wisdom, spirituality, tact, and
earnestness we are indebted largely for the progress
that has been made. ... It was wuth great difficulty
he was induced to leave a settled, comfortable pas
torate in Nebraska to begin a work among the thou
sands of people single-handed, as far as human help
was concerned, and with no possible introduction to
those among whom he was to work.*' He then quotes
Dr. Losa's own account of his method of work as he
began at Schoenville, a short distance from Coraopolis,
near Pittsburgh:

"At first my work consisted of visiting only. I
announced services at once, but for several weeks I
had no audience. I saw plainly that my work must be
personal. When I noticed that I was welcome in a
house, I revisited it again and again, and prolonged my

76 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

visits. I read and explained the Scriptures to those
who would listen, and thus interested them in the Word
of God. Soon they began to read the Bible then-
selves, and ask questions on my next visit. My visits
lasted often three hours at a time. In a few months
four of the men gave their hearts to Christ. Others
were reached in the same way. Very soon after I
started my work I made it a point to visit the hospit.il
once a week. There was often a Slav among the
inmates. Once I met a young man in the hospital,
part of whose hand was amputated. He was filled
with joy when he learned that I was a Protestant
clergyman. He purchased a Bible at once and read it
daily. I followed this young man from the hospital
to his place of boarding, and to-day we have about ten
young men in one mission reached through this hospital
patient. I am thoroughly convinced that it requires a
steady perseverance with individuals to be successful
in this work, and, of course, a man unable to speak
their language cannot do the work.

"The English mission in the town, before I came
there, was utterly inadequate. There is another point
I emphasize. As soon as a man was converted, I con
vinced him that it was his duty to bring others to Christ,
and taught him the different ways in which he might
hope to do this: First, to live an exemplary Christian
life; second, not to lose an opportunity to give his per
sonal testimony to the power of Christ to save; third,
to distribute tracts and take an order for a Bible
whenever anyone inquired for it. In this way, of course,
I was helped immensely, and when other duties came
to me and I was unable to make so many and so long
visits, there were substitutes at work among the con
verts. In the summer of 1901 our audiences were so
large that crowds were standing on the street. Ever
since, our quarters have been filled with regular attend-

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 77

ants. If many of the regular attendants had not moved
away during the last eighteen months, I would have
been very much embarrassed as to how to shelter them,
as our little room is packed when forty members are
present. Sometimes when we had fifty present some
had to be placed in the adjoining kitchen.

"Our converts come from Roman Catholic, Greek
Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed people. The plain
est preaching of the simple gospel will reach these
people. It must be taken for granted when you
address them that they do not know even the alphabet
of Christianity, and when they are converted they
will tell you that you were right. Protestant or not
Protestant, they are spiritually dead, ignorant of the
fundamental Christian doctrines and full of super
stition. I consider it a great mistake to gather the
nominal Protestants, irrespective of their spiritual con
dition, into a church. Sometimes this is done with a
view of teaching them to live better lives, when already
they are in the full communion of the Church, but
repeatedly this method has proved to be a failure.
There are many obstacles and hindrances in this work.
The people do not care for you at first, and many of
them become your enemies and hate you when you
begin to teach them to abandon their vices. Then
priests and nuns try to neutralize your work. Beer
and whiskey men see an enemy in you, and multiply
their efforts to make the people drink heavily; but
against all these and other hindrances stands the
ever-powerful gospel. It requires that one firmly
believe that God means what he says, and that he
will fulfill his promises. Had I not believed this most
sincerely and firmly when I started this work I would
have abandoned it before I began it. From the human
standpoint it was just as the physician in Schoenville
told me upon my arrival. He said, 'You had better go

78 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

back to Nebraska, as the obstacles are insurmountable
here.' Now three of my young men, two of whom
have been employed for months as colporteurs, are in
school with a view of being educated as missionaries."

Dr. McEwan states that "during the year of 1902
six young men, converts under the preaching of Mr.
Losa, have been employed as colporteurs and their
work has been remarkably successful. With their help
and the help of the woman missionary, Mr. Losa has
started and is carrying on five Sunday schools about
Schoenville. Cottage prayer meetings are also held, as
well as the regular prayer meetings and the two church
services. A suitable building for the work at Schoenville
is now under construction, wThich will be provided with
classrooms, night-school rooms, bathrooms, and an am
ple auditorium seating 250 people."

His later discourse, published in 1906, shows progress
in the work. His text was Num. 15 : 16: "One law
and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger
that sojourneth with you." "The American govern
ment has one law and one manner for its citizens and
the strangers that sojourn among them. The American
public-school system receives the children of every
nationality, only requiring that they be able to speak
enough English to understand and recite. It is to the
credit of these people, and by the mercy of God,
rather than by our own wisdom and provision, that
there are as yet so few breaches of the law and so little
to cause us apprehension. Many of them will learn
to love this new country of freedom. . . . There are
others who form organizations to keep up their alle
giance to the land from which they came, and who have
no appreciation of the blessings they receive here. It is
a problem for all statesmen and all patriots and all
educators, and for every citizen."

He here speaks of three ministers laboring among

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 79

the Slavs, of a membership of 130 in the mother church
at Schoenville, of nine young men from its ranks who
were studying for the ministry, of ten women mission
aries working in nine different schools; and he gives
facts about the colporteurs, some of whom from time to
time had been lent to other presbyteries. All this work
was then under the " Joint Committee of the Presby
teries of Pittsburgh and Allegheny." In 1904 a Pres
byterian Missionary Training School was begun, where
young women of various nationalities could be pre
pared to do mission work among their own people.
Dr. McEwan had pleaded for this. He now reports,
"A suitable building in Allegheny has been leased; a
qualified matron is in charge."

Finally he makes this appeal : "It is enough to break
the hearts of those who are familiar with the great needs,
and who see the open doors that constitute providential
calls, to attempt to carry on this work with the inade
quate support that is provided. The feeling is constant
that if only the facts could be put before the Christian
people who have means, the responses would make the
funds to be multiplied. In the name of common
humanity we can make our appeal for these people
whose physical surroundings are incompatible with
health and morality. In the name of patriotism we
can appeal that these people be educated into the
responsibility of citizenship, and that the great Chris
tian institutions of the civilization which we enjoy
may not be broken down by the sheer weight of igno
rance and alienage. In the name of your own safety
and security we can appeal for help for these people.
Now, by reason of the prosperity and activity in indus
trial life, they are kept busy and measurably con
tented. If some time of depression and idleness should
come, unless they are educated and Christianized, it
does not require the eye of a prophet or the spirit of a

80 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

pessimist to foresee incalculable dangers. In the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose salvation is for all men,
who came into this world "to seek and to save that which
is lost," who shed his blood for the remission of sins,
who commanded us to preach the gospel to every
creature, we can appeal to you to help these poor and
needy souls. It is difficult to see how a stronger appeal
could be made to a Christian than to let the bare facts
concerning the number and the needs of these people
speak for themselves."

One striking fact in the history of this Schoenville
Mission throws a flood of light on the evangelical
purpose of all this work. When the building that Dr.
McEwan mentions was planned, one patron contrib
uted sixteen hundred dollars to include a swimming
pool. The time of the workers was more and more
absorbed in the spiritual part of their routine, in prayer
meetings, in Bible classes, and the like. This swimming
pool then became a distraction and a burden. At
last they abandoned the care of it, and closed it up.
More power to such institutions ! Many chapters could
be written of very different management in other
institutions which ask the help of Christian men, where
the physical, the recreational, has crowded out the
higher, the spiritual work; where the swimming pool
has eclipsed, or rather submerged, the prayer meeting;
where young foreigners may learn to dance or to play
billiards, but are not led to the Bible class.

The story of the way in which the Training School
was transferred to Coraopolis should be remembered.
At the beginning of his work, it was necessary for
Dr. Losa to choose a residence in Coraopolis, no suitable1
house being available at Schoenville. Scarcely any
foreigners were there, but gradually some servant girls
and day laborers, Slavs, began to locate there, and
-Dr. Losa succeeded in gathering them for regular

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 81

prayer meetings. Mrs. Losa, herself an experienced
missionary, rendered invaluable assistance. At one
of these prayer meetings some asked why they might
not have a church building of their own in Coraopolis,
instead of going for such services to Schoenville. Dr.
Losa explained that the people of the presbytery were
contributing more than before to missions, and would
not be likely to add this project until the people did
something for themselves. They requested him to
draw up a subscription paper. About thirty were pres
ent, day laborers and servant girls almost exclusively;
and scarcely one subscribed less than twenty to twenty-
five dollars, or several hundred dollars in all. This
again aroused Dr. McEwan, who soon added to the
amount. Some lots were purchased in Coraopolis, but
in 1908 a building formerly used as a sanatorium became
available for the Training School. This was purchased
and used for some time for church services, and also as
a school. The first payment for this property was
accomplished through the sale of the lots, which had
been a result of the prayer meeting and the Slav sub
scriptions. At a later time, the presbytery built a fine
church at another corner of the lot, and secured next
to it a residence for Dr. Losa.

One great evangelical purpose has been clearly
marked from the beginning in this work among for
eigners. That purpose, as stated very simply by Dr.
Losa, is "to bring people to Christ." This purpose
dominates the details of every department or phase of
work. In a sewing class the sewing lesson is preceded by
devotional exercises, and the Scripture has more
emphasis than the other instruction. In 1920, Rev.
Frank Svacha acted as a field secretary, and his reports
show this same spirit. His use of the stereopticon was
admirable; but whether it was used to illustrate Christ's
"Last Week" or the life of Washington, the gospel was

82 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

in evidence. His report on "The Devotional Spirit of
Our Vacation Bible Schools" says: "At the very
beginning of our devotional service there must be an
atmosphere of worship. Let us realize that it is the
quiet hour with God, that shall be the very best founda
tion for the morning session of our school. If that is
attained, then under its influence the work that follows
becomes a pleasure. The sweet influence of the Spirit
of God dwells in the soul and gives both the teacher
and pupil the patience, perseverance, and faithfulness
that are so much needed to make the work successful."
The pages that recount his numerous visits among the
missions, ascertaining their condition and progress,
are incidental proof that the only Americanization that
is worthy of such a name is Christian Americanization.
The program and exhibit planned by the superin
tendents, Drs. Montgomery and Losa, for the session
of Pittsburgh Presbytery in November, 1920, seemed
like a climax for their twenty years of evangelical work
among Slavs. It was held, only a few weeks before
Dr. Montgomery's death, in the main auditorium of the
First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
and in the adjoining room there were interesting photo
graphs with legends as to phases of the work, also a
display of Scriptures and Christian literature in the
languages used by the colporteurs and an exhibit of
needlework. The program lasted about two hours,
was instructive, convincing, and had much variety,
There were recitations by children from the missions,
speeches by missionaries of different nationalities,
music in chorus by pupils of the Training School at
Coraopolis, and singing in English, though some of
the participants had arrived in this country from
Czechoslovakia only a few weeks before. One hymn
was sung by the throng of workers in ten languages.
The superintendents made addresses. Dr. Mont-

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 83

gomery's was not committed to writing and therefore
cannot be reproduced. From Dr. Losa's notes we
have the following:

"Twenty years ago Pittsburgh Presbytery decided
to try an experiment. Among a hundred thousand
foreigners they had two little missions, Italian and
French. They then called from the West a man who
was inexperienced in the many-sided problem of
beliefs, languages, and customs, but willing and devoted
to this cause. Difficulties in the initial stages of this
work were such that it is a wonder that it did not die
in its infancy. And the credit for the survival of this
child belongs to another man of this presbytery who in
the providence of God was its most gentle nurse. Of
course, you know that I refer to Dr. William L.
McEwan, who will always be lovingly remembered by
the first little groups of workers of twelve, fifteen, and
twenty years ago." Dr. Losa also complimented the
committees, "committees that cannot be matched in
the United States: First, the Home Missions Com
mittee of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh; second, the
Joint Committee of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Presby
teries, that followed; third, the trustees of Pittsburgh
Presbytery, who have for their executive officer a
man (Dr. Montgomery) who has not only a rare
knowledge of the field, and wisdom and tact in using
this knowledge, but also a genuine love toward these
immense masses of future United States citizens, and
toward the workers. And here lies the secret of the
success — and all the rest of the credit for any success
in this work belongs to these faithful and untiring
workers of many nationalities that stand before you
to-day, and the converts that do not stand before you.
. . . You must read between the lines to comprehend
fully what has been done. That some fifteen hundred
actual members were received, twenty ministers

84 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

ordained, twenty girls became missionaries, fifteen men
became colporteurs, thousands of children were gath
ered in Sabbath schools — those figures will give you
only an incomplete idea of the whole work. Also, the
thirty thousand dollars' worth of Bibles, New Testa
ments, and religious books sold, and millions of pages
of tracts distributed, will not tell you the full story of
your colporteur's wrork. You would have to read
between the lines about thousands of souls who were
influenced by your missionaries and missions, about
hundreds of converts who exerted a wholesome influence
in their native countries, and some who started congre
gations in Italy, Jugoslavia, and other places, to
appreciate the work. . . . You would have to follow
your missionaries from door to door and live through
the experience of having the doors slammed in your
face, of being ejected from some houses, of having
promises to come to the meeting or to send the children
to the Sabbath school, ninety -five per cent of which
are never fulfilled, to appreciate the heroic spirit of
your workers.

"And you would have to enter the closed rooms of
your missionaries and see their tears, the pessimism that
slyly but persistently enters their hearts, and would
surely destroy their usefulness and chase them away
from their work if it were not for the new strength, new
enthusiasm, that fills their hearts again after a fervent
prayer that is poured out often in agony. You would
have to meet some of the converts and hear the story
from their own lips to realize fully that this kind of
work done in this way and by these men and women,
foreign-born or of foreign parentage, is the only kind
that lays the right foundation for pure and true
Americanism; and you would realize also the folly of
the other kind of work that is so much emphasized
to-day, and that goes only halfway, and the minor half

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 85

at that — just to the mind and head, but not to the heart
and spirit. These exhibits will prove to you that we
go the whole way and that the final goal is never lost
sight of."

Then he discussed their periodical literature, and if
the life of the American people is to be gauged by what
they read, especially on Sunday, "what shall we say
of the foreigners who have no religious papers, and
whose secular papers are far below those of Americans
in spiritual respects, papers that write only sneeringly
of religion and faith in Christ? Brethren, the letters
that come to the editors of the papers published by the
Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work under
your supervision would convince you that these papers
that are weekly visitors to thousands of foreign families
are bringing untold blessings to them, and save many
of them, hundreds of individuals, from infidelity.

"Do we make and have wre made any mistakes?
The speaker confesses that he learned more from his
mistakes than from his professors and books. Each
mistake, rightly viewed, was a great asset to him for
future work."

Finally he appealed for the workers, that the brethren
would be patient with them, encourage them, and not
let them suffer financially. The presbytery always
has taken good care of them; yet none must suppose
that any of them are living in luxury!

It was a pleasure to Dr. Montgomery to read a number
of letters testifying to appreciation of this exhibit. One
of these was from Dr. Isaac Boyce, as follows, dated,
from Allison Park, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1920:

"It was my privilege to be present in the meeting of
the Presbytery of Pittsburgh on November 9, and to
note and study carefully the exhibit of the foreign-
mission work under your superin tendency; and I feel
that it is but just to give you my personal appreciation

86 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

of the work being carried forward in the region of
Pittsburgh among the foreign population residing in it.

"I was, as you are aware, for twenty-seven years a
missionary of our Foreign Board in Mexico. I am not,
therefore, a stranger to mission problems, and am able
to appreciate the difficulties met with in carrying on
such a work. ... It is, therefore, a very great
pleasure to me to express to you my approval of your
work, and to congratulate you on the fine results so
far obtained in it.

"Your organization meets with my most hearty
approval. Mission work is, after all, the same the
world over. It was my privilege to have a considerable
part in the organizing and developing of our work in
Mexico, as well as to study mission organization in all
our world-wide work. It was rather surprising, as I
studied your methods and your organization, to note
how closely you have followed the general plan of
work obtaining in the whole foreign-mission work of
the Church, and I am enough of a Presbyterian to
believe that our system is not excelled by the plans and
methods of any Church. I note:

"First. That while you recognize the absolute
necessity of money for carrying on your work, you yet
seem to appreciate that money is not by any means
the most important factor entering into it; and that it
has to be constantly watched lest it become a danger
to the largest measure of success possible in such a work.

"Second. You evidently recognize that the foreign
worker, whether lay or minister, is the factor which
must, in the long run, insure success or result in failure.
There is always the danger of giving undue importance
to the Americans who direct the work. Missionaries
the world over have come to recognize the danger
resulting from giving undue importance and promi
nence to the American missionary, and looking on the

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 87

foreign worker as of rather smaller importance. In the
beginning of such a work the American looms large;
but in the development and permanent organization
and growth of such an enterprise the native worker,
whether he works in the U. S. A. or in a foreign coun
try, must take the prominent place, and gradually come
to control and direct in large part the work. The
American worker must decrease and the native increase.
And I was happy to note in your exhibit that you
appreciate this fact.

"Third. The importance you are giving to the
training of foreign workers meets with my most hearty
approval. You are wise in giving such large place in
your work to the school in Coraopolis. Without an
educated native constituency on which, in ever-
increasing ratio, the responsibility can be laid, the
fullest measure of success cannot be realized, or even
hoped for. I am convinced that the foreign nations in
which evangelical work is being prosecuted will never
be evangelized save by well-equipped native evangelists
and pastors and teachers; and my conviction rests on
long experience, and, as well, on some failure in my
earlier mission experience to appreciate the importance
attaching to the native worker and to his fullest
equipment for his work.

"In closing, let me say that I watched very closely
for any seeming tendency to patronize the native
worker and the native church. On no single particular,
perhaps, do so many missionaries make shipwreck as
on this not altogether unnatural tendency. We believe
that our institutions and our methods are the best, but
too marked a tendency to make our feeling promi
nent is galling to the native worker and kills his
initiative, or at least chills it very decidedly and makes
it impossible for him to put his very best into his work.
It was, as it always has been, grateful to me to note

88 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

the cordial relations existing between Dr. Losa, and
other prominent workers, and yourself. You, very
wisely, push them to the front, and apparently strive
to impress on them that the work in hand is primarily
their work, and that its success depends principally
on them.

"Let me say that I most heartily enjoyed your exhibit
in the recent meeting of presbytery. It brought back
to me old memories which are very precious to me, and
which I would not exchange for anything I can think of.
It was just the repetition of things I had been through
many, many times, and awakened in me a desire to
be once more in a work to which I gave so many years;
and which to my mind is the greatest enterprise which
can engage the soul, and stimulate the very best that is
in the soul, the spirit of the man or woman who loves
the Lord Jesus, and prays intelligently for the coming
of his Kingdom."

A report was prepared for the presbytery's exhibit
from which we have the following:

"We have in Coraopolis a three-story frame building
containing thirty-two rooms altogether. We can house
twenty -two pupils comfortably. There are, living with
the pupils, a matron and two teachers. ... So far,
seventy-one girls have graduated. There are seventeen
in the school at the present time. Four of them will
graduate next spring (two Slovak, two Bohemian).
. . . The rest of the girls, thirteen, came from Bohemia,
every one of them a high-school graduate. Two of
them are daughters of Presbyterian ministers. . . .
We have been favored in having exceptionally capable
and spiritual girls as our missionaries. ... At one
time we had eighteen missionaries at work. This
number has been curtailed on account of lack of workers.

"Almost from the beginning of the foreign work
under the general supervision of Dr. Losa, until now,

P. W. SNYDER, D.D.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 89

the women, first by a joint committee from the presby
teries of Allegheny and Pittsburgh, and after the
union of the two presbyteries, by the Woman's Presby
terian Home Mission Society, have cooperated with
the men in the work. Their efforts have been confined
very largely to the educational department in connec
tion with the Training School located at Coraopolis,
and to the support of certain women missionaries in
specified fields of foreign work. . . . This cooperative
work on the part of the Woman's Home Mission
Society has been most harmonious and helpful, so
much so that the monetary support of the work now
amounts to more than ten thousand dollars a year.
Too great credit cannot be given to the consecrated
women who have so loyally supported this work."
The report gives details as to organization and work of
the "Joint Committee on Education" of the trustees
and the Woman's Society.

In April, 1921, the Presbytery of Pittsburgh ap
pointed Dr. -P. W. Snyder as its new Superintendent
of Missions. Dr. S. J. Fisher, who has had long experi
ence in the presbytery, a popular writer for our Church
newspapers, and the recording secretary for the
American Hussite Society, has kindly furnished the
following statement, dated at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
July 23, 1921:

"In regard to your inquiry concerning the action of
the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, in electing a successor
to the late Dr. George W. Montgomery, as Superin
tendent of Presbyterian Missions, I can heartily say
that the presbytery feels it has made a wise choice in
electing Dr. P. W. Snyder as superintendent. This
mission work has been a constantly enlarging and
increasingly important work. In diversity of operation,
in the variety of its workers, and need of larger financing,
it has grown remarkably through the years. A proper

90 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

supervision calls for considerable ministerial experience,
acquaintance with this region and its race problems,
as well as a strong faith and appreciation of the need
of the guidance of God. The presbytery feels that in
Dr. Snyder it has found one who by training and quali
ties of mind and heart is well fitted to discharge the
duties of this important office. His experience as a
pastor on the South Side, and great success at Home-
wood, his years of relationship to the problems of
Church comity and survey of the responsibility of each
denomination in this city, have prepared him for an
intelligent study and supervision of this work in this
region. His acquaintance with the problems of the
weaker church, and his sympathy with such enter
prises and fields, gives the presbytery every reason to
believe his plans, suggestions, and purposes shall give
those missions an added value, and a still greater suc
cess. As a man of experience, open-minded, and yet
able to resist unwise or hasty experiments, he can be
relied upon."

REV. FRANCIS PRUDKY

Chapter IV

ENCOURAGEMENTS

REV. FRANCIS PRUDKY, pastor at Olomouc, Moravia,
was sent by the Church Missionary Society, an organiza
tion which renders assistance to churches beyond the
bounds of Czechoslovakia, to investigate a number of
Bohemian colonies; his journeys throw light upon the
possibilities of evangelizing various regions, populous
or important, between the Baltic and the Black seas,
through the work of evangelical Czechoslovaks.

This story follows closely the recital given to the
writer by Mr. Prudky during his visits to Pittsburgh
in the latter months of 1920. Occasionally he observed
differences in soils, occupations, or as to whether the
people owned or rented their ground; for such details
affect Church life in Europe as in America. Especially
important is the difference of situation for the Bohemian
colonies in regions dominated by Poles, or those in
Russian districts; for convenience no distinction of
Ukrainians as different from Russians will here be
noted. In Poland he visited four centers of Bohemian
Reformed churches, the largest church being at Zelov,
and the largest city being Lodz. He journeyed farther
among localities in two of the Russian "Governments,"
those of Volhynia and of Kherson.

His first journey, in 1908, was through Russian
Poland. A verst is .66 of a mile, or 1.06 kilometers;
and some thirty versts from the notorious monastery
of Czenstochov, where robberies and misdemeanors
disgusted many in Russia, is Kucov, a village wholly
Bohemian, of sixty or seventy families, with other
families in neighboring villages. They had a good

92 THE COMING OP THE SLAV

church building, destroyed by artillery in the second
year of the War, but now rebuilt. They have also a
parochial school and a schoolmaster. Their homes are
neat, contrasting with Polish villages. They burn peat
for fuel. The women have an elaborate linen head
dress worn only on Sundays. The people are religious,
loving the gospel. Though it was a week day, all left
their work and came to church, where Mr. Prudky
preached twice. The Russian Government made so
many difficulties for pastors or others in securing
passports that though they were not far from Moravia,
they had little communication with it, and they had
many questions to ask.

Some twenty-seven miles beyond this place is Zelov,
near Lask, which is the nearest station to Lodz. The
Laski family of the nobility was famous in Poland,
and from it came John Laski, the great Reformer of
Poland, a friend of Calvin. Zelov, with 5000 inhab
itants, is the largest Bohemian colony of Poland.
Some 2500 are Bohemians, 2000 Jews, the rest Poles
or Germans. The Bohemians came from German
Poland in 1815, purchasing a portion of territory from a
Polish nobleman, the deed of which Mr. Prudky
examined. The soil is sandy, not rich, and the impor
tant occupation is weaving cloth for the Lodz factories.
The Czar Alexander I helped them to build a fine
Reformed church, and they also have their parochial
school. At first all were Reformed adherents, but some
twenty years ago, Baptists and, later, Congregation-
alists undertook missions there. The people are great
Bible readers, and some time ago declined to take
religious newspapers, saying the Bible was sufficient,
for it was to them a spelling book, reader, geography,
history, and their poetical literature. They speak the
same fine dialect of Bohemian that is preserved in the
Kralicka Bohemian Bible. In the forenoon of Sunday

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 93

Mr. Prudky found their church full, a larger audience
than the Reformed could then assemble in Bohemia or
Moravia, for their congregation numbers five thousand
souls. Before the War, it was the largest Reformed
Bohemian congregation in the world. Connected with
Zelov as headquarters, are some villages. In one of
these the rent of the forest sustains their school. The
schoolmaster, with a family of ten children, has a home
of two rooms containing the kitchen and living room,
and while there is only one knife for the entire company
at table, each has a spoon !

This tour then leads to Lodz, next to Warsaw, the
largest town in Poland, growing rapidly before the
War, with several hundred thousand inhabitants, a
town of cloth factories. The Reformed churches have
a thousand souls, originally from Zelov, and a fine
school. Mr. Prudky was there at the time of the
revolution. Cossack soldiers escorted through the
streets a carriage with mails and letters which they
had captured. Soldiers w^ere in the cars, scrutinizing
passports closely. Mr. Prudky 's impression of the
people there, in the meetings which he held, was that
they also were lovers of the Bible and devout. At
that time they depended for pastoral care upon the
pastor in Warsaw, a Bohemian, Rev. Mr. Jelen, whose
death some time afterward was much lamented. A
cantor or teacher conducted their pulpit services, as
Mr. Jelen could come only at intervals of some months.
Congregationalists also hold services in Lodz. Lodz
was originally German, and the eight or ten Lutheran
churches there at first used the German language.
Now they all use the Polish language. It is singular
that German statesmen failed so signally to Germanize
Posen's Poles, while these Germans of Russian Poland
have been Polonized. Y

The last community visited in Poland was Zyrardow,

94 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

between Lodz and Warsaw. Here are almost ten thou
sand people, whose homes, factories, churches, the
cemetery with its sections, the entire place, all belongs
to one German mill owner. He built and owns the
Bohemian Reformed Church, as he does all the others
in the town. It is a town of cloth factories. The
Reformed number some six hundred souls, supplied by
a cantor, with occasional visits from the pastor in
Warsaw, Mr. Jelen, who was at that time superin
tendent of the synod. On the occasion of Mr. Prudky's
visit, the town was full of soldiers who were keeping
order during a strike.

There was no Bohemian Reformed Church in Wrar-
saw, the capital of Poland, but a fine Gothic Reformed
Church there. The superintendent of the synod,
Rev. Semadeni, and the pastor of this Church, Rev.
Skierski, were both ardently patriotic Poles. The four
centers above mentioned are all that the Bohemian
Reformed Church has in Poland; and all these are
descendants from emigrants who left Bohemia after
the disastrous battle of the White Mountain.

It was a rare scene that occurred at the time when
Mr. Prudky was present in the Synod of Vilna. There
he was, a Bohemian Reformed leader, listening to dis
cussions of Polish Reformed leaders, both ministers
and laymen, the presiding officer being a Polish noble
man. He conferred with them as to the difficulties of
Bohemian Reformed churches in their Polish districts.
In his tours he also made the acquaintance of Polish
evangelical leaders in their Synod of Warsaw. It is
doubtful whether any other representatives of the
Polish and Bohemian peoples could be found who
could hold conferences in so Christian and fraternal a
manner as such evangelical men. The chariot of the
gospel might speed victoriously among Slav peoples,
when their watchmen see thus eye to eye.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 95

As he passed on into Russian regions, in the two
Governments of Volhynia and Kherson, holding meet
ings, he learned the conditions of the people, their
difficulties, their needs. Details, some of which are
recited elsewhere, show the attitude of the Russian
authorities of that period toward these Reformed
churches. The primitive houses built by Slav farmers,
in some places with walls of earth and straw, can also
be found in America. Very different conditions obtain
in German Silesia, now a part of Poland, where the
Bohemians of the younger generation have to some
extent been Germanized. A singular contrast is that
many German Lutherans in Poland have been Polon-
ized. A still different situation appeared in districts
now belonging to Jugoslavia, the territories of Croatia
and Slavonia. In reports of such tours, to find churches
in a low state, pastorless for years, hampered by
unfriendly officials and oppressive governments, should
not abate Christian hope and zeal. "The king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord." And the Lord of the
harvest hears the prayer that he himself has inspired,
and raises up the laborers that are needed. All these
moral wastes can be transformed into spiritual flocks
of men. And when devout households are found, far
from churches, who instruct their children in the Bible
and catechism and eagerly profit by a minister's visit,
this should have a place in the same narrative which
describes centers with their hundreds or their thou
sands of Church members. Moreover, to see a convert
from America whose life was transformed from being
brutal and drunken become a kind Christian husband,
an earnest reader of the Bible, who helped to gather
scattered families into a congregation and was serving
as a church treasurer when Mr. Prudky found him, is
good news from a far country, as cold water to a thirsty
soul.

90 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Since the Reformation no Slav land has afforded
such encouragement for evangelical work as Czecho
slovakia, after the armistice was signed. Thereupon,
losing no time, Bohemian Reformed and Lutheran
Churches, whose separation had been an arbitrary
enforcement of outsiders, united as the "Evangelical
Church of Czech Brethren," with a constituency o\
about two hundred thousand; and they cultivate close
acquaintance with about five hundred thousand Slovak
evangelicals. Beholding many open doors, they ar(
"like them that dream." A rapid survey of the region
where Mr. Prudky labors, in North Moravia, writh
Olomouc as headquarters, is demonstrative for all oi
Czechoslovakia.

Moravska Ostrava has been growing like a lesser
Pittsburgh into an important manufacturing center.
For some time in 1904 Mr. Prudky visited the place
once in two months, gathering a small company of
worshipers. An evangelical church is there, made up
of Germans and of Polish Lutherans. These Poles,
however, differ somewhat in dialect and disposition
from other Poles, preferring to be classed as "Mora
vians," and they readily send their children to Bohemian
schools. In 1920 the Bohemian Reformed congrega
tion, which had increased to nearly three hundred
souls, was augmented to three thousand souls, by the
union of Bohemian Lutheran and Reformed congrega
tions. Germans naturally stood aloof from such a
union; and the Poles had no more control in the church
which had been erected partly by their contributions.
To use that church for their services, this congregation
must pay a goodly rent. The Poles having no Bohemian
traditions, being in a transition state, scarcely know
where they are ecclesiastically; and it is an urgen!
problem to interest them in the erection of another
building, when the building that they formerly had

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 97

seemed to be the last contribution they needed to make.
They are mostly miners, and the community is the
most important field for development now in Czecho
slovakia.

The surroundings of Olomouc make a territory of
about 4000 square miles with half a million people.
It is a district that contains some of the best soil in
Moravia. Pferov, since Mr. Prudky's visit to America,
has become a separate charge, since Rev. C. A. Chval,
of Pittsburgh Presbytery, toward the close of 1920
went there as pastor, his support being assured through
funds raised by Drs. Montgomery and Losa. It is
headquarters for several other communities. A neat
church building was erected here in 1908. It is a
historical place, the birthplace of Blahoslav, who died in
1571. His excellent translation of the New Testament
from the Greek was afterwards, with minor revision, in
corporated into the Kralicka Bible, and he wras the author
of many hymns and religious works. Here, too, is still
shown the Gymnasium where for four years, 1614-1618,
Comenius was the principal. A Bohemian Reformed
statesman of that locality, Karel ze Zerotina, went into
voluntary exile after 1620, but was allowed to revisit
his estates, and died during such a visit. In a neigh
boring village, Hranice, a former chapel of the Bohe
mian Brethren still exists, now used as a warehouse.

Another important locality, which should be a
separate charge, is Prostejov, where there are many
workmen. It has had services on alternate Sunday
afternoons, with no church building, in a place of
worship available only on Sundays. Mr. Prudky's
assistant minister, Rev. Sedy, had his headquarters
in Svebohov, afterwards changed to Hrabova, and the
story of its origin as told by a Bohemian coworker in
Germany so interested the hearers that a society was
formed to provide the salary for the worker there.

98 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Since the War, this support has been withdrawn, and
the support must be furnished by Bohemians. A
century ago, a Bohemian Catholic attended a church
festival in Prague and obtained a Bible. He gathered
his friends, and the reading of this Bible together led
to the creation of the Reformed Church at Svebohov
Intolerable persecutions hindered them. It was found
that they did not have the certificates, always required,
that they had been to the confessional. "Our certifi
cates," they said, "are our consciences." To be recog
nized as Protestants, they must affirm their purpose to
become such in "examinations," for six weeks. By a
subterfuge the hours in a period of six weeks were
counted, and this ingenious inquisition extended for a
year or more, with every other annoyance added that
could be invented. Yet by 1850 this Reformed group
numbered seventy souls. They were allowed to retain
their own cemetery, and to build a mausoleum, and
this served as their place of worship until more tolera
tion was granted. The assistant holds services in
Zabr*eh, where Jiri Strejc was born, a writer of Bohemian
metrical psalms. Zabreh has two villages, also Mirov
in its circuit, where there is a state prison that should
be regularly visited. Mr. Prudky visited eight places
to catechize the children, his assistant visited six more,
and a schoolmaster cared for another locality. There
are also devoted women workers and young people
who help in Sunday schools, in church support, and in
the care of the poor. v

In Hrabova, during July, 1921, Mr. Sedy wel
comed his first confirmation class of twelve children
who had been instructed there, and on the same occa
sion received a hundred adults as Church members.
In describing the work, he emphatically declares that
our Board of Publication, by its picture cards and its
Bohemian papers for children and for adults, has

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 99

rendered invaluable service. "I do not know what
could be done without your help; not half of what has
been accomplished," he writes to Dr. Losa. And he
mentions, as in almost every letter, a service in a new
locality. Another pastor made a tour in what may be
called "Moravian" Slovakia, where the dialect, in one
Moravian village after another, increasingly resembles
the Slovak. Often the attendance in the places men
tioned was two hundred, or three hundred, with in
stances of five hundred, nine hundred, a thousand,
once fifteen hundred. In a hall where this instance
occurred, of nine hundred present, he discoursed for
an hour. But when he finished, all remained seated,
and a voice requested, "Please continue." But he was
too weary, and had to consider the care of his voice, in
those frequent meetings; yet such behavior and re
quests from audiences are not uncommon. Formerly,
Bohemians would discuss anything but religion. Now,
the news is reiterated, that in trains and everywhere,
groups soon form that plunge into religious discussions,
and audiences that would not listen to discourses on
politics or socialism will crowd any auditorium to hear
about Huss and the gospel. The pressure increases,
urging Presbyterian Bohemian ministers in America,
even for limited periods, to return to Czechoslovakia;
and it is the exception, proving the rule, that when
such men can be spared, and means provided, those
who are already qualified, but no other Americans,
could well be sent to relieve the emergency.

Here, then, should be several separate charges in
Mr. Prudky's former field. He dedicated a new church
building, a beautiful structure, in July, 1920. Soon
after he made his tour in America. When he returned
home, he found most of his congregation strangers to
him, for the new accessions, largely in his absence,
a total of over three hundred for that year, made a

300 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

new situation. Moreover, in the opening months of
1921, he welcomed two hundred more, so that his
new church was already too small. His assistant's
congregation grew from eighty members to eight
hundred; and Mr. Chval, arriving in January, 1921,
soon welcomed two hundred members. Moreover,
Mr. Prudky had visited other localities, where he
had lectured on John Huss. For Bohemian audi
ences, so long misled by blind guides, this is the best,
most congenial first lesson in gospel instruction. If
twenty qualified pastors were suddenly to appear, he
could promptly assemble audiences similar to those he
has addressed, in strongly Catholic neighborhoods, now
friendly to the gospel. New charges can be formed in
the same way as those now being cultivated. In
southern Moravia is Uhersky Brod, one of the reputed
birthplaces of Comenius, also Uhersky Hradiste, with
similar needs and promise; likewise, in southern
Bohemia, Budejovice (Budweis). Rev. Krenek, of
the Central West Presbytery, Bohemian, left the
United States for an evangelistic tour in Czechoslovakia
and everywhere was greeted by great audiences, often
in the open air. Somewhat later, Rev. Dobias, of
the Southwest Bohemian Presbytery in Texas, made
a visit of nine months in a region of Czechoslovakia,
of western Bohemia, at Domazlice, where a Protestant
was a rarity. Two hundred members he found there,
but when he returned to this country at the end of that
visit, he had increased that number to three thousand !
In one week delegations from fifteen villages of the
vicinity visited him, asking him to appoint services in
their towns.

Another Bohemian minister, in the fall of 1920, went
from America to that land to engage in Y. M. C. A. work.
He wrote that on March 6, 1921, he preached in Kralo-
vice, where there had not been a Protestant previous

THE COMING OF THR SLAV

to January, 1921. After his sermon seventy-nine new
members joined the newly organized Church. There
were five hundred in the audience; the same Sunday,
he preached in two other towns under similar condi
tions. In this same season, it was reported that in
Zizkov, a suburb of Prague, 5000 persons had united
with the evangelical Church. Also, in Hrabova there
were four hundred Protestants, gaining about ten new
members a week, where a year before there were prac
tically none. At the meeting of the Synod of the
"Czech Brethren" in February, 1921, the pastor of the
Pilsen Church stated that in and around Pilsen, there
were some 13,000 accessions to his Church, enough
for ten churches, or enough to make a new seniorat,
or presbytery; while he was the only pastor available
for them! Three times on Sunday the Pilsen Church
was emptied for different audiences. So, in Brno (Briinn) ,
the capital of Moravia, two services were held in its
church each Sunday morning, for the multitude had
thus to be accommodated; and like arrangements are
spreading elsewhere.

These details may suffice to indicate a movement
unexampled in Europe for centuries. The Czechoslovak
census of February, 1921, adds its own testimony. The
population is over thirteen million. The Evangelicals
number about 1,500,000; "without Confession," or
churchless, 4,500,000. Besides, parallel with the evan
gelical movement is one of the "National" Bohemian
Church. Some 142 priests petitioned for mass in the
vernacular, the circulation of the Bible, the marriage
of priests . They were excommunicated ; called * 'generals
without an army." The Evangelicals welcomed them,
believing that they were bound for an evangelical goal.
And this census indicates that their adherents are
800,000! For Bohemia and Moravia, where Rome had
claimed ninety-eight per cent, it seems that it could

-10* THE^COMING OF THE SLAV

retain only about fifty per cent; besides, these seces
sions from its ranks continue.

Dr. Herben, one of the foremost of journalists,
wrote in the largest paper of Czechoslovakia: "Easter
week in the rural districts of Bohemia and Moravia
was absolutely a religious demonstration. Whole
towns and villages were looking for some one to come
and teach them what to do. Had there been enough
preachers and teachers in the Evangelical Church of
the Czech Brethren, whole districts would have been
celebrating Easter according to the Protestant rites,
entirely outside of the Roman Catholic Church. Such
is the attitude and such is the tendency of the people.'*

A religious paper of Bohemia in 1921 stated that in a
year's time or less a hundred new preaching stations
had been established in Bohemia alone, some of them
already surpassing in numbers and zeal the older, self-
supporting churches; and that every Sunday fifty
ministers and laymen are endeavoring to supply these
points, though not able to serve half the localities that
call for the gospel. The movement has been mostly
among the workingmen and the middle class; but is
winning its way also among intellectual, cultured
leaders.

As this book goes to press, the news comes that
Rev. Kenneth D. Miller, Associate Director of City
and Immigrant Work for the Presbyterian Board of
Home Missions, New York City, has undertaken a tour
of investigation in Czechoslovakia and some adjacent
countries. Some years ago he received an appointment
to one of the fellowships provided by the Board, en
abling him to spend some time in Bohemia, where he
became proficient in the language. His service later
for the Board was varied by work for the Y. M. C. A.
among Czechoslovak troops in Siberia. He can readily
get the viewpoint of Czechoslovak leaders. Arrange-

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 103

ments are progressing also to send two or more Bohe
mian ministers from America to Czechoslovakia. Dr.
Losa's correspondence reveals further improvement in
the organization of the "National" or Czechoslovak
Church, whose priests often suffer hardship, as no pro
vision has been made for their salaries since they left
the Catholic Church. The latest indications are that
a hundred thousand Bibles may not supply the present
demand ifor them in Czechoslovakia. Owing to the
increased cost of these, America ought to help in pro
viding them.

The foregoing pages describe a movement in Bohemia
and Moravia. But in Slovakia a similar need has been
recently discovered, which may lead to important de
velopments.

In Slovakia the masses have been either Romish or
Lutheran; and leaders of the Bohemian Reformed
churches scarcely knew of the existence of any Slovak
Calvinists. When Mr. Prudky was in America he met
some of them, who asked him to visit their brethren in
Slovakia. In the summer of 1921 two delegations of
Bohemians did so, and found twenty thousand of them
in a fertile plain, having views of the Carpathians to
the north, a region between Kosice and Uzhorod, a
region that suffered in the wars, the Great War, and
the later war between the Bohemians and the Reds.
Whole cemeteries were the evidence. Magyar leaders
gave warning of these visitors, wolves in sheep's
clothing, as they said; or as a teacher declared, they
were not Calvinists but Hussites, not praying to God
but to Huss! But their way was prepared by Rev.
John Sirny, who had charge of the Presbyterian Slovak
Church at Monessen, Pennsylvania, and who was
visiting Slovakia. Their audiences welcomed services,
sometimes Communion services, in their own tongue.
Their dialect was interesting. "Thy speech bewray-

104 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

eth thee," is a principle of linguistic science. And
here were Slovaks, whose salutations, various accents,
and phrases, were different from those of western
Slovaks, sometimes purely Bohemian, suggesting plausi
bly that they were descendants of Bohemian exiles
driven out by persecutions centuries ago.

Magyar kultur, religious and otherwise, said Mr.
Prudky in his letter to Dr. Losa, was plainly visible,
for the school, church, magistrates, army, all aimed at
the obliteration of Slovak self-consciousness, at their
serfdom, at their separation from Bohemians. Their
Calvinism was a confess! onalism, to emphasize a
separation from Slovak Lutherans, formal rather than
spiritual. Their very orthography was Magyarized, so
as to make it difficult for them to read the writings of
Slovaks or Bohemians. Yet the children who memor
ized catechisms in Magyar parochial schools, or the
people who heard sermons in that tongue, understood
it no better than Latin. The visitation of twenty-three
churches by these brethren supplied them with abun
dant evidence as to such facts. The Magyar Reformed
Church aims at "autonomy" for them, which means
their domination by Magyar bishops and pastors.
These leaders even choose the delegates for their
ecclesiastical gathering, the "Conventus"; their pastors
also are appointed, the people having no opportunities
of electing them.

The results of this tyranny are deplorable. It is not
strange that the people sometimes call themselves
"Magyars" though they do not know that language.
They have been as serfs, looking up to Magyars as
aristocrats, so that they do not comprehend true
liberty. Since the Czechoslovak Republic was estab
lished, the Calvinistic Magyar parochial schools have
been closed, and the children are without instruction.
There is no Slovak Bible with Magyar orthography,

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 105

and the people are without Bibles. They are not apt
to read anything, and drift into an unthinking habit,
so that some Calvinists voted for the clerical party!
They have learned to emphasize forms only; they have
superstitions, even prayers for the dead, sometimes
paying for masses in Catholic churches. Their pastors
have their own farms, their tithes, their fees for
baptisms, or other functions, but no salary otherwise.
Thus the people have no idea of benevolence and its
contributions, and their relations with ministers are
pitiable. These have been as lords over God's heritage;
the people cannot be born, or live, or die, without
these officials, mere ceremonialists, and they must be
paid. Love and confidence are absent ; and increasingly,
many people refuse services that formerly were volun
tarily rendered. The people make merit by adorning
profusely the pulpit and table with embroidery and
artificial flowers, and the long farewells for the dead at
funerals are aids to superstition.

Mr. Prudky has some counsels for this situation.
Communications with Czech Brethren having thus
begun, should be continued. Until the separation of
Church and State is complete, the government should
not recognize pastors who do not understand the
language of their people. Spiritual teachers are needed
for the schools, and if they are not available, even
State schools are preferable to parochial schools under
a Magyar regime. Good schools are a necessity. Bibles
are a necessity, for a true evangelization; and a good
colporteur, going from hut to hut, might introduce a
new era. Literature easily understood is a necessity.
A little paper, printed at first in Magyar orthography,
changing slowly to Slovak, and containing some politi
cal or agricultural articles, would do good. Finally, a
Slovak seniorat or presbytery is a necessity. Stipends
and subsidies should be provided for Slovak students

106 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

for the ministry, and only efficient, spiritual men should
work in Slovakia.

This unique situation in Bohemia, Moravia, and
Slovakia warrants the hope that in the future, and
that not distant, a hundred qualified pastors, and then,
if the Holy Spirit be poured out, a thousand, may not
suffice for the flocks that need spiritual care in Czecho
slovakia, requiring many problems of training, instruc
ting, organizing the workers and the people. God
grant that America may do her part in this time of
harvest !

The Czechoslovak Review of Chicago published the
Constitution of Czechoslovakia. Article 106 says that
"All inhabitants of the Czechoslovak Republic enjoy,
equally with the citizens of the Republic, in its terri
tory full and complete protection without regard to race
or religion." But as Washington's character and influ
ence was a powerful guarantee for the terms of the
American Constitution when it was regarded as an un
tried experiment, so the influence of Thomas Garrigue
Masaryk, the first President, elected for life in
Czechoslovakia, is a fortunate asset for the stability
and progress of that promising country. He was born
March 7, 1850, in South Moravia. He had struggles
with poverty in getting his education, in the grammar
school of Brno, capital of Moravia, in the University of
Vienna, and later in the University of Leipsic. In one
of his journeys in Germany and Russia, he met Miss
Charlotte Garrigue, an American lady, who became his
wife. In 1879 he established himself as a lecturer in phi
losophy at the University of Vienna; and when the Uni
versity of Prague was divided into a German and a Czech
University, he was transferred to this new Czech insti
tution. A significant fact, not always mentioned, was
that in the course of these activities, though born a
Catholic, he united with the Reformed Bohemian

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 107

Church. In 1891-1893, he served as a deputy in the
Austrian Parliament, coming to the front rank as a
political leader, patriotic, honest, and fearless. His
eyes were opened to the hopeless corruption of Austria,
and after leaving Parliament he continued to write
and to advocate reforms. In various questions he
took the unpopular side, facing storms of opposition,
sometimes from powerful clerical organizations, yet
finally winning his case. He was reflected to Parlia
ment in 1907, and exposed the forgeries by which the
Austrian authorities tried to implicate Serbia in a
conspiracy, and by which in the Agram political trials
fifty Jugoslav youths were condemned to death, but
rescued by Masaryk's efforts. The War broke out while
he was on important journeys. But we might well
let him tell his story as he did in his first presidential
message to the National Assembly, in the ancient
royal castle of Prague, in December, 1918:

"I myself saw clearly that I could not and must not
remain in the service of Austria-Hungary. It is true
that at first I hesitated to act; I felt the tremendous
responsibility. I counted the cost of defeat — but our
soldiers, refusing to serve, and surrendering to the
Allies, the criminal execution of our men who rejoiced
at the promises of the Russian commander, the entire
machinery of Vienna and Budapest barbarity, forced
me to a decision." He mentions his journeys, seeking
information, in Vienna, Holland, Germany. "In the
middle of December, 1914, I departed for Italy, then
still neutral, and from there to Switzerland. I had
hoped to return once more to Prague and communicate
the information gained by me, but it was no longer
possible. In the fall of 1915 I proceeded to London,
whence I made frequent trips to Paris." In London
he was welcomed, and was appointed a professor
at King's College. Moreover, he was then direct-

108 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

ing the whole Czechoslovak movement in Russia,
America, and France. When the Russian revolution
broke out, he went, at a critical time, to Russia, and
it was due to him that the Czechoslovak army was
organized. "In May, 1917, I had to go to Russia;
from Russia I departed early in March by way o*
Siberia to Japan, through Japan to the United States,
and after seven months' residence there I returned a :
the call of our government after a lapse of four years
as the first president of the Czechoslovak Republic.
. . . The history of our army in Russia is the history
of Russia during the War. Kerensky at first was against
us, until he found out that his offensive was to a large
extent carried out by our three regiments, and thai
our boys covered the fatal flight of the Russian army.
After many attempts we finally managed to organize
an army corps; and I can say without boasting that
organizing this army during the anarchy and the
complete break-up of the Russian army is the best
testimony to the maturity not merely of our boys, but
of the whole nation, for 100,000 men is enough to
represent a nation. . . . Our army fighting on three
fronts won our liberty for us." lie then recounts the
steps by which the Allies recognized Czechoslovakia,
saying, "It is natural that recognition by England
and the United States, the greatest Allied Powers,
strengthened us greatly, as the behavior of the enemies
made plain. . . . Bismarck said that the master of
Bohemia is the master of Europe. He described thus
in his own way the special world significance of our
nation. We are the westernmost Slav branch in the
center of Europe, and we successfully helped to balk
the German push toward the east. Our victory is
likewise the victory of the other small nations menaced
by Germany and Austria." He then shows the impor
tance of cultivating harmonious relations with sur-

THE COMING OP THE SLAV 109

rounding nations, and with a renewed Russia. When
he discussed the Magyars, he tactfully changed from
the Bohemian to the Slovak dialect. One writer in the
Bohemian Review, commemorating his seventieth
birthday, speaks of the love and reverence of the nation
for him: "The Czechoslovak movement for inde
pendence, its struggles and final victory, were not
possible without Masaryk." Accordingly it means
much that such a man, identified with the Reformed
Church, began this historic message with a quotation
from the famous educator and reformer, a well-known
prophecy of John Amos Comenius: "O Bohemian
people, I trust in God, that when the tempest of his
wrath brought upon our heads for our sins, will have
passed away, the reign of thy cause will again be
restored."

The evangelization of Slavdom can be furthered by
a plan so simple that it is within the reach of every
American Church and Christian. It would be an
unspeakable boon, both to America and to Slavdom,
if the Monthly Concert, a truly concerted movement
among Presbyterians, were to restore and retain
Czechoslovakia or Slavdom in its list of topics. Every
month these topics receive regular discussions, for
thousands of readers, in monthly or weekly Presby
terian periodicals throughout America, and the
missionary societies, young people's meetings, mid
week services, echo and emphasize them. But for
many years, up to 1920, Slavdom has been excluded
from this sphere of blessing. Yet this is a sad departure
from the former ideals of our fathers. Every year,
their Monthly Concert program included "papal
Europe," and while Italy and France received more
attention, being more familiar, we may refer to the
former Presbyterian magazine, the Foreign Mission
ary, for November, 1883, where there is a brief

110 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

quotation concerning the history and spiritual needs
of Bohemia and Moravia. This spiritual sympathy,
not only for this part but for all the rest of Slavdom,
is greatly needed now. This magazine for September,
1879, quoted the report of a previous General Assembly
as follows: "Believing that an instrumentality which,
in the history of our Church, has been so signally blessed,
may be yet made a means of blessing to the whole world,
your committee call the attention of ministers and
elders to the paramount importance of making more
efficient the monthly meeting of prayer for missions
where it is observed, and of reviving it where it is
fallen into disuse."

The Foreign Missionary for August, 1886, gives a
table of statistics of organizations of Reformed churches
on the Continent, in Bohemia, France, Italy, Belgium,
et cetera, also another table showing the contributions
sent to these Reformed churches from the Presbyterian
churches of Scotland, England, and Ireland. "The
above," it adds, "does not tell the whole story. Many
special missions are aided from Scotland and England.
. Best of all, a number of students have been
brought from the countries of Austria, educated for
the ministry in Scotch Theological halls, and sent back
to their homes. The Reformed churches in papal lands
have solid ground upon which to appeal to American
Presbyterians. 'Their debtors we are.' Our spiritual
and temporal prosperity depend upon principles for
which their earlier generations contended. It is but
due return for us now to help them back to temporal
and spiritual vigor. The five thousand dollars con
tributed to them from the treasury of our Presby
terian Foreign Board last year might well be multi
plied tenfold." Sad to say, for many years, all such
advertisement or regular news and discussions of
Bohemia, now in Czechoslovakia, or of Slavdom, as

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 111

well as of Latin Europe, have disappeared from Pres
byterian papers in the United States, such publications
now being sporadic, irregular; and such contributions
are no longer reported by our Foreign Board. These
probably never were part of a regular budget; yet
special gifts, due largely to these publications, no
doubt, have always been forwarded according to desig
nations by donors.*

The Presbyterian denominations of this country
should now consider anew their spiritual responsibility
for Slavdom. These Monthly Concert programs
would be enriched, varied, made more adequate, if
Czechoslovakia or Slavdom were included. A former
secretary of the Presbyterian Foreign Board was of the
opinion that whatever the topic for a monthly mission
ary meeting, the whole world as the field for evangeliza
tion should be the real theme. A multitude of states
men have perceived that no sufficient discussion of
world powers could be had if Slavdom were omitted.
And shall the children of this world be "in their genera
tion wiser than the children of light"?

The history of the Monthly Concert of Prayer for
Missions, or as it has sometimes been expressed, of a
"Concert of Prayer for the Conversion of the World,"
has never been fully recorded. We may note two
landmarks in such a blessed history : First, a discourse,
making nearly two hundred pages, of Jonathan
Edwards, America's greatest theologian. This was
"An Humble Attempt To Promote Explicit Agreement
and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary
Prayer For the Revival of Religion and the Advance
ment of Christ's Kingdom on Earth." His text was
Zech. 8 : 20-22: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It
shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people,
and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants

*The recent news is welcome, that our Foreign Board will include Czechoslovakia
and other countries of Europe in its topics, as of yore.

112 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily
to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts :
I will go also. Yea, many peoples and strong nations
shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and
to pray before the Lord." He quoted a number of
other prophecies, and showed that they were never
fulfilled before the coming of Christ, and hence must
refer to the glory and enlargement of the Christian
Church. This text shows how this advancement
should be introduced : "By great Multitudes in different
Towns and Countries taking up a joint Resolution,
. . . that they will, by united and extraordinary
Prayer, seek to God that he would come and manifest
himself, and grant the Tokens and Fruits of his gracious
Presence. . . . This Disposition to ... Prayer,
and Union in it, will gradually spread more and more,
and increase to greater Degrees; with which at length
will gradually be introduced a Revival of Religion.
. . . In this Manner Religion shall be propagated,
till the Awakening reaches those that are in the highest
Stations, and 'till whole Nations be awaken'd, and there
shall be at length an Accession of many of the chief
Nations of the World to the Church of God."

He then discusses a memorial that had been sent
from Scotland to America, "for continuing a Concert
for Prayer, first entered into in the Year 1744." A
number of Scottish ministers had made an agreement
to observe some times for special prayer, and to con
tinue this for two years. At the expiration of the time,
this memorial was published, and some hundreds of
copies sent to America, urging that the arrangement be
continued and extended.

The second part of this discourse offered "to Con
sideration some Things, which may induce the People
of God to comply with the Proposal and Request."
This master mind then marshaled arguments, as if

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 113

burdened with a message of high import. He showed
that many prophecies of the future glories of the Church
are yet unfulfilled, surely worth praying for. He had a
chapter on what Christ did and suffered to obtain that
day. ''Surely his Disciples . . . should also . . .
be much and earnest in Prayer for it." Of all the
encouragements to this duty, signifying importunity
in prayer, he knew of nothing in the Bible so striking
as Isa. 62 : 6, 7: "Keep not silence, and give him no
rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a
praise in the earth." Throughout the Bible, especially
the psalms, no other prayers are so frequent as those
for the advancement of the Church, God's Kingdom of
grace on earth. After urging the special needs of that
time, in the eighteenth century, and the advantages of
such a union of Christians, he refuted some objections
and in conclusion quoted Isa. 25 : 9: "It shall be said
in that day, Lo, this is our God; ... we will . . .
rejoice in his salvation."

Another publication, a book of about a hundred
small pages, by Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, New
Jersey, appeared in 1832, "Letters on the Observance
of the Monthly Concert in Prayer: Addressed to the
Members of the Presbyterian Church in the United
States." He, too, discussed the necessity of prayer,
and of intercession, and the blessedness of union with
others in this. He referred to the origin of the Monthly
Concert in the Church of Scotland about a hundred
years before, and how Edwards, "then of Northampton,
in Massachusetts, labored with no small diligence and
zeal to ... promote the plan." In 1784, this
appointment was made monthly, on the first Monday
evening of each month. The Presbyterian General
Assembly in 1830 issued a pastoral letter calling atten
tion to this subject. A few years later, it recom
mended a change to the first Sunday afternoon in

114 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

every month for the churches that might find it con
venient. Dr. Miller fervently pleaded for more mission
ary zeal in this matter. "Again I say to every minister,
every member, and every well-wisher of our Zion,
Awake! Awake! Pray and labor without ceasing until
there shall be a general and united movement of our
whole Church to carry the glorious gospel to every
kindred and people and nation and tongue; until the
knowledge and glory of the Lord shall cover the earth
as the waters fill the sea, Amen!"

The Presbyterian Church has followed in its missions
a different plan from that of some other denominations,
since it never has sent missionaries to Europe. Dr.
Ferdinand Cisaf, superintendent for the Reformed
Church in Moravia, emphatically approved this plan
in his article on "Los von Rom!" ("Away from Rome!")
in the Presbyterian and Reformed Review, October,
1901: "Perhaps only Presbyterians have the better
understanding of the matter that to strengthen the
Continental Protestant Churches is the safest way to
evangelize Catholic Europe." Some years ago the
question was raised in the General Assembly whether
it might be well to change this plan, and the matter
was finally referred to the Board of Foreign Missions;
its report in part is as follows (Minutes of the General
Assembly, 1909, p. 341):

"I. That it is inexpedient at the present time for
the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S. A. to establish Foreign Missions
on the Continent of Europe, for the following reasons:

"(a) The Presbyterian Church has already more
foreign missionary responsibilities than it is dis
charging. (6) The primary responsibility for work in
Europe rests upon the Evangelical Churches of Great
Britain and the Continent, which have recognized this
obligation, and which in turn leave the vast work to

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 115

be done on the western hemisphere to the American
and Canadian Churches, (c) The establishment of
Foreign Missions in Europe by the American Churches
is regarded on the Continent and Great Britain as an
unwise and harmful policy.

"II. But there is need of friendly help in behalf of
the Reformed Churches on the Continent, and the
Evangelical Churches of Great Britain and America
should show a large sympathy for their brethren in the
Continental countries. The Board, however, cannot
make any provision for such help out of its woefully
inadequate income; but it is cordially ready to receive
and forward any special designated gifts for these
churches and their work, provided that the agents to
whom the money is to be sent and the objects of work
to which it is to be devoted are officially authorized by
the highest ecclesiastical courts of the Churches con
cerned, and approved by the General Secretary and
Executive Committee of the Presbyterian Alliance.
In acting thus for those interested, the Board could not
assume any responsibility of accounting for the receipt
of funds and transmitting them to the authorized
agent."

To propose resolutions of sympathy in the General
Assembly for the Reformed Churches of Czecho
slovakia, and then do nothing, is like saying, "Depart
in peace, be ye warmed and filled, "notwithstanding the
fact that urgent needs are unsupplied. Organizations
were formed some years ago, which interested numbers
of Presbyterians, to help Reformed Churches of France
and Belgium, also Waldensian societies to assist the
Waldensians of Italy. A sensible and practical plan
for helping the Reformed Churches of Czechoslovakia
has been proposed by Dr. W. L. McEwan, of Pitts
burgh, Pennsylvania, and put into effect by his organ
ization of "The American Hussite Society." If thou-

116" THE COMING OF THE SLAV

sands of Presbyterians throughout the United States
were to become members and contributors toward this
organization, it would go farther than ever to supply
the needs of Slav saints, and occasion many thanks
givings to God.

Summary

The two things here to be emphasized are the Amer
ican Hussite Society and the Monthly Concert of
Prayer for Missions. The Hussite Society is admirably
adapted to be the organ for all the Presbyterian and
Reformed Churches of America in obtaining funds for
Czechoslovakia. The true policy for all these denom
inations must be to send no American missionaries to
Europe, but to send funds to aid our Reformed brethren
there. The need for this is formally recognized, but in
practice such contributions are difficult to secure, in
the face of the increasing regular budgets of all churches.
Hence the need for this organization. Moreover, the
Monthly Concert of Prayer, including Czechoslovakia
in its topics, will be a powerful help, making its appeal
to thousands, through Church papers and missionary
organizations. Thus there will be a more extensive
publication of the great and growing importance of
Slav countries, and the need of more evangelical work
in them, including colportage and the training of a host
of missionaries.

"Pray ye ... the Lord of the harvest, that he
will send forth laborers into his harvest." "If thou
forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and
those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold,
we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the
heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth
not he know it? and shall not he render to every
man according to his works?" We ourselves, the

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 117

whole Church to-day, need the same spirit as that
of Samuel, when he spoke to Israel: "Moreover
as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the
Lord in ceasing to pray for you."

Supplement

A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

McLanahan: "Our People of Foreign Speech."

Grose: "Aliens or Americans?"

Count von Liitzow: "Bohemia: An Historical Sketch."

Thomas Capek: "The Slovaks of Hungary."

R. W. Seton- Watson : "Racial Problems in Hungary."

W. S. Monroe: "Bohemia and the Czechs." (See also
his work on "Bulgaria and Her People.")

Francis H. Palmer: "Austro-Hungarian Life in Town
and Country." (Also the volumes of the same series
pertaining to Slav countries. Likewise, the volumes
in the series, "The Story of the Nations.")

W. R. Morfill: "The Story of Poland."

Leroy-Beaulieu : "Empire of the Tsars and the Rus
sians." 3 vols.

Latimer: "Liberty of Conscience Under Three Tsars."

Pamphlets, published by the Presbyterian Board of
Publication and Sabbath School Work: "Protes
tantism in Poland," C. E. Edwards; "The Story of
the Bohemian Church," W. G. Blaikie.

Senate Document No. 662, 1911: Dictionary of Races
and Peoples.

National Geographic Magazine: February, 1917, and
December, 1918.

Emily Greene Balch: "Our Slavic Fellow Citizens."

POPULATION AND AREA OF SLAVDOM

Taking the number of Slavs as given in the Ency
clopedia Americana, 1920, disregarding their losses in

118 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

the World War, it would exceed a hundred and seventy
million. If these were to have the happy increase
recorded in the United States in the first decades of
its history, doubling every thirty years, then before
some infants of to-day reach fourscore years the Slavs
themselves would number nearly a billion. Their
territories, too, if properly developed, without any
annexations, would amply support them. For this an
American illustration, without details of discussion,
may suffice. If the potato, an important article of
diet be supplied, famine would not seem so threatening.
Assume five hundred bushels of potatoes per acre, not
a record yield, to be obtainable by modern industry,
and the per capita consumption annually two and a
half bushels, then potatoes for a billion persons could be
produced by one fourth the arable land of Colorado,
described as the most mountainous of American states.
If the vast, undeveloped areas of Slavdom are culti
vated by an industrious, intelligent race, the cost of
living might everywhere be relieved. The area of all
the Russias before the War would eclipse that of the
full moon. Without here quoting logarithms, we may
recall that the area of a sphere is the square of its
diameter, multiplied by "pi" which is nearly 3.1416.
The diameter of the moon is 2163 miles, and the full
moon presents to us half the area of that sphere, or
something over seven million square miles. Russian
dominions exceeded eight million square miles, eclipsing
the full moon, "which was to be proved," as geometries
have said.

COMPARISON OF MATT. 6 : 9-13, IN BOHEMIAN, POLISH,
AND MAGYAR

The cruelty of forcing the Magyar tongue upon
Slovaks may be illustrated by a comparison of two

THE COMING OF THE SLAV

119

Slav versions of The Lord's Prayer, the Bohemian,
practically identical with Slovak, and the Polish, with
the Magyar. If rendered audibly, the resemblance of
the first two, to a Slav ear would be far more striking
than to American eyes from the printed page. Only a
little more than one word to a verse in these Slav
tongues is unlike, and these may be guessed by Slavs
from the connection. Not a single Magyar word
resembles any corresponding Slav word. The only
word common to all three is the Hebrew word, Amen!

Bohemian

9. Otce nds, kteryz
jsi v nebesich,
posvSt' se jmeno
tve\

10. Pfid' kralovstvi
tve.

Bud' vule tva jako
v nebi tak i na
zemi.

11. Chleb nas vez-
de j si de j nam
dnes.

12. A odpust' nam
viny nase, jakoz i
my odpoustime
vinnikum nasim.

13. I neuvod' nas v
pokuseni, ale zbav
nas od zleho.

Nebo tve jest krd-
lovstvi, i moc, i
slava, na v8ky.
Amen.

Polish
Ojcze nasz, kt6rys

jest w niebiesiech!

Swie sie, imie.

twoje;
Przyjdz krolestwo

twoje;
badz wola twoja

jako w niebie, tak

i na ziemi.

Chleba naszego
powszedniego daj
nam dzisiaj.

I odpus"c nam nasze
winy, jako i my
odpuszczamy nas-
zym winowajcom;

I nie wwodf nas na
pokuszenie, ale
nas zbaw ode zle-

go;

albowiem twoje jest
kr61estwo, i moc,
i chwala, na wieki.
Amen.

Magyar

Mi Atyank, ki vagy
a mennyekben,
szenteltessek meg
a te neved;

Jojjon el a te orsza-
god;

legyen meg a te
akaratod, mint a
mennyben ugy a
foldon is.

A mi mindennapi
kenyeriinket add
meg nekiink ma.

Es bocsasd meg a mi
vetkeinket, mike-
pen mi is megboc-
satunk azoknak, a
kik eUenunk vet-
keztek;

Es ne vigy minket
kisertetbe, de sza-
badits meg min
ket a gonoszto"!.

Mert tied az orszag
es a hatalom ^s a
dicsosdg mind 6r-
okke. Amen!

120 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Americans should recognize the difference between
Magyars and Slovaks. Slovaks come from Hungary,
but are not real Hungarians. Magyars, rulers of Hun
gary, oppressed Slovaks in a way never experienced by
Americans, even under George the Third, since they
forbade them to learn their own language. Some Slav
leaders estimate that the Magyar tongue is spoken by
about seven millions. The Bohemian or Slovak tongue
is a key to languages spoken by nearly two hundred
millions. The Magyar is an agglutinative language,
not inflected like Slav or Indo-European tongues; it is
not Indo-European, but an Asiatic intruder, a linguistic
island in the midst of Europe.

A TYPICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR EVANGELICAL MISSIONS

Converts among immigrants in America have a
keen appreciation of the Reformation, and desire
another Reformation for their own homelands. They
would see their experience justified in a document which
was a landmark of that movement, Calvin's reply to
Cardinal Sadoleto, a work that Luther said "had
hands and feet." Note the following paragraphs:

"Since you have cited us as defenders to the tribunal
of God, I have no hesitation in calling upon you there
to meet me. Our cause, as it is supported by the
truth of God, will be at no loss for a complete defense.
I speak not of our persons, whose safety will be found
not in defense, but in humble confession and suppliant
deprecation; but in so far as our ministry is concerned,
there is none of us who will not be able thus to speak:

"O Lord, I have, indeed, experienced how difficult
and grievous it was to bear the invidious accusations
with which I was harassed o"n the earth; but with the
same confidence with which I then appealed to thy
tribunal I now appear before thee, because I know that
in thy judgment truth always reigns. They charge

THE COMING OP THE SLAV 121

me with two of the worst crimes, heresy and schism.
The heresy was that I dared to protest against the
dogmas which they received. But what could I have
done? I heard from thy mouth that there was no
other light of truth which could direct our souls into
the way of life, than that which is kindled by thy Word.
I heard that whatever human minds could conceive of
themselves regarding thy majesty, the worship of thy
deity, and the mysteries of thy religion was vanity. I
heard that the introduction into thy Church, of doc
trines sprung from the human brain, was presumption.
. . . But when I turned toward men, I saw very
different principles prevailing. Those who were
regarded as leaders of faith neither understood thy
Word nor cared greatly for it. Among the people
themselves, the highest honor paid to thy Word was
to revere it from a distance as a thing inaccessible, and
to abstain from all investigation of it. Thy Christ
was indeed worshiped as God, and retained the name
of Saviour; but where he ought to have been honored,
he was left almost without honor. There was none who
duly considered that one sacrifice which he offered on
the cross, and by which he reconciled us to thyself,
— none who ever dreamed of thinking of his eternal
priesthood, and the intercession depending upon it —
none who trusted in his righteousness only. . . „
And then when all, with no small insult to thy mercy,
put confidence in good works, when by good works
they strove to merit thy favor, to procure justification,
to expiate their sins, and make satisfaction to thee
(each of these things obliterating and making void the
virtue of Christ's cross), they were yet altogether
ignorant wherein good works consisted. For, just as
if they were not at all instructed in righteousness by
thy law, they had fabricated for themselves many
useless frivolities, as a means of procuring thy favor,

122 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

and on these they so plumed themselves, that, in com
parison of them, they almost condemned the standard
of true righteousness which thy law recommended.
That I might perceive these things thou, O Lord, didst
shine upon me with the brightness of thy Spirit; that
I might comprehend how impious and noxious they
were, thou didst bear before me the torch of thy Word;
that I might abominate them as they deserved, thou
didst stimulate my soul. . . . As to the charge of
forsaking thy Church, which they were wont to bring
against me, there is nothing of which conscience
accuses me, unless, indeed, he is to be considered a
deserter, who seeing the soldiers routed and scattered
and abandoning their ranks, raises the leader's standard,
and recalls them to their posts. . . . Always, both
by word and deed, have I protested how eager I was
for unity. Mine, however, was a unity of the Church,
which should begin and end in thee."

This solemn scene was supplemented by another
confession from a layman :

"I, O Lord, as I had been educated from a boy,
always professed the Christian faith. But at first I had
no other reason for my faith than that which then
everywhere prevailed. Thy Word, which ought to
have shone on all thy people like a lamp, was taken
away, or at least suppressed as to us. . . . I antici
pated a future resurrection, but hated to think of it,
as being an event most dreadful. And this feeling not
only had dominion over me in private, but was derived
from the doctrine which was then uniformly delivered
to the people by their Christian teachers. They,
indeed, preached of thy clemency toward men, but
confined it to those who should show themselves
deserving of it. They, moreover, placed this desert
in the righteousness of works, so that he only was
received into thy favor who reconciled himself to thee

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 123

by works. . . . When, however, I had performed all
these things, though I had some intervals of quiet, I
was still far off from true peace of conscience; for,
whenever I descended into myself, or raised my mind
to thee, extreme terror seized me — terror which no
expiations nor satisfactions could cure. . . . Still,
as nothing better offered, I continued the course which
I had begun, when, lo, a very different form of doctrine
started mp, not one which led us away from the
Christian profession, but one which brought it back to
its fountainhead, and, as it were, clearing away the
dross, restored it to its original purity. Offended by
the novelty, I lent an unwilling ear, and at first, I
confess, strenuously and passionately resisted; for
(such is the firmness or effrontery with which it is
natural to men to persist in the course which they have
once undertaken) it was with the greatest difficulty I
was induced to confess that I had all my life long been
in ignorance and error. . . . My mind being now
prepared for serious attention, I at length perceived, as
if light had broken in upon me, in what a stye of error
I had wallowed, and how much pollution and impurity
I had thereby contracted. Being exceedingly alarmed
at the misery into which I had fallen, and much more
at that which threatened me in view of eternal death,
I, as in duty bound, made it my first business to betake
myself to thy way, condemning my past life with groans
and tears. And now, O Lord, what remains to a wretch
like me, but instead of defense, earnestly to supplicate
thee not to judge according to its deserts that fearful
abandonment of thy Word, from which, in wonderful
goodness, thou hast delivered me."

The conclusion of this reply, as Dr. Reyburn says,
in his "Life of Calvin," sums up the whole argument :
"The Lord grant, Sadoleto, that you and your party
may at length perceive that the only true bond of

124 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Church unity is Christ the Lord, who has reconciled
us to God the Father, and will gather us out of our
present dispersion into the fellowship of his body,
that so, through his one Word and Spirit, we may
grow together into one heart and soul."

PRESBYTERIAN SLAV PERIODICALS

The Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work
of the Presbyterian Church makes interesting state
ments about its periodicals for Slavs:

"There are more than sixteen hundred newspapers
published in the United States in foreign languages.
Most of them are devoted exclusively to the printing
of secular news and not a few of them are the pro
moters of socialistic and anarchistic propaganda of
the most virulent type. During the War many of them
were filled with disloyal utterances and some were dis
continued by order of the Federal Government. Since
the close of the War, the vigilance of the Government
with reference to these publications has relaxed and
many new periodicals have appeared representing the
most radical views

"Without doubt it is the duty of the Church to meet
this situation, which in some quarters has become
fraught with danger to our American institutions, by
an equally aggressive and persistent publication and
distribution of literature devoted to the propagation
of evangelical truth and Americanization." For the
Bohemians or Czechoslovaks, "Our sixteen-page weekly
paper, KresfanskS Listy (Christian Journal), has been
published since 1906 under the editorial and business
management of Dr. Vaclav Losa, a Bohemian mission
ary pastor, who, because of his knowledge of the needs
of the immigrants and his unusual executive ability,
was appointed superintendent of the work among
foreign-speaking peoples in Pittsburgh Presbytery. It

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 1*3

is worthy of note that under his guidance the Presby
tery of Pittsburgh is maintaining a larger work among
foreign-speaking people than any other presbytery.
Under his efficient leadership this Bohemian paper
has been the means of strengthening the efforts of our
own and other evangelical bodies among that people.
. . . For the use of the children in the Bohemian
Sunday schools we are publishing a weekly paper,
Besidka (Story Hour), containing stories for children
which the parents may read to them."

Concerning the Ruthenians (or Ukrainians), "while
the Protestant constituency among Ruthenians is
comparatively small, their need of a periodical is as
urgent as that of other classes of immigrants whom
we are endeavoring to influence. During recent years
there has been a well-defined movement away from
the authority and worship of the Greek Catholic Church.
Large numbers have turned to athesim and infidelity.
For many years, under the oppression of Russia and
with the approval of the Church authorities, these
people have been prohibited from using their own
language either in the schools or in print. In America
they have a few newspapers, but our weekly paper,
Sojuz (Union), is the only religious periodical in the
Ukrainian tongue published in the United States."

Lastly, as to Poles, "for the use of missionaries
among the Polish immigrants our Board has united
with the Publication Board of the United Presbyterian
Church in the publication of a monthly periodical
entitled Slowa Zywota (Words of Life). We have but
few missions among the Poles, and at present these
papers are circulated mainly through our colporteurs.
The seed that has thus been sown is giving evidences
of growth and the outlook for the future of this work is
very encouraging."

126 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

THE SLAV VERSIONS

A new version of the Bible is "a well at which
millions may drink"; and the British and Foreign
Bible Society has excelled all other evangelical agencies
in opening such wells for Slavdom. Data may be
obtained from its annual reports, but especially from
its encyclopedic work, the greatest ever attempted of
its kind, "A Historical Catalogue of Printed Editions
of Holy Scripture." The first volume, the English
section, appeared in 1903.

Beginning with the most ancient of the Slav versions,
that which is popularly called "Slavonic," we quote:
"The term 'Slavonic' is popularly applied to that form
of Slav speech which survives in ecclesiastical use in
Russia and other Slav countries. Scholars distinguish
three main recensions, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Russian,
in ecclesiastical Slavonic. The majority of the editions
belong to the Russian form of ecclesiastical Slavonic
which is now in use among all Slavs of the Orthodox
Church." The earliest editions were the Psalter
(A.D. 1491), the Gospels (1512), the Acts and the
Epistles (Moscow, 1564), generally considered to be the
earliest book printed in Russia, and the entire Slavonic
Bible in Volhynia, Russia, in 1581. But in the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries, the hundreds of
editions, Testaments, and portions of this version
catalogued, would amaze all who are unacquainted with
such a history. All this implies myriads of readers.
The Russian Bible Society was founded in 1813.
Before it was suppressed in 1826 it was estimated that
it had published at Moscow and Petrograd editions of
the Bible and New Testament in Slavonic and Russian
amounting to over 500,000 copies."

Of Russian Scriptures we note: 1. The White Rus
sian, in which a version was made in the first part of
the sixteenth century. The language is "a Polish

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 127

Russian, used in White Russia and parts of Lithuania.
To-day the White Russian differs from the standard
form of the language in little else than pronunciation.
The first editions were at Prague, (Job, 1517)."

2. The Great Russian, which is simply the standard
form of modern Russian. "All the editions are printed
in the Russian character ('Grajdanski') which is the
modern form of the Cyrillic character introduced by
Peter the Great. As in the case of the Slavonic Bible,
the order and number of the books in this and other
editions of the Old Testament, published by the Synod,
agree with those in the Septuagint." The B. F. B. S.
report for 1910 gives further details as to the Old
Testament authorized and issued by the Russian
Church. "It is a translation from the Hebrew. But
the short variations which are found in the LXX are
inserted in the text within square brackets, with a
footnote on the first page pointing out the significance
of these brackets. Of such additions there are a dozen
in the first chapter of Genesis. The apocryphal books
and passages are also included, with a footnote in every
case stating that they are translated from the Greek."

3. The Little Russian, or Ruthenian, used in Galicia
and southern Russia. The Ruthenians now prefer to
be called Ukrainians. The first edition of the Ruthenian
Scriptures was the Pentateuch (1869) at Lemberg.
The B. F. B. S. reports state that the entire Ruthenian
Bible was published in 1904, and that thus another
European race is provided with the whole Bible at the
expense of the B. F. B. S. and through its instru
mentality. In 1910 it was stated that this edition, of
course not containing the Apocrypha, had been for
bidden in Russia, but would now be allowed if duty
be paid.

The earliest editions of the Serbo-Croatian Scriptures
were the Liturgical Epistles and Gospels (1495) and

128 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

the New Testament (1563). The Croatians gave us
the word "cravat," from their national name. In
B. F. B. S. price lists, the Croatian Scriptures are
included under "Serbian," with the statement that they
are in Latin character, the Serbian being in a modified
Russian alphabet. Their report for 1919 mentions
progress in preparing an improved Serbian version.

In the report for 1902, mention is made of the death
of Dr. Long, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, "till
recently a professor in Robert College on the Bos-
phorus. Dr. Long's relations with the Bible Society
go back to 18GO, when he and the late Dr. Riggs, with
two native Bulgarian scholars, were appointed to
revise and further translate the Scriptures into Bul
garian. This little band completed its labors in 1871,
when the whole Bible was printed at Constantinople.
This has ever since been the standard Bulgarian
version." The report for 1919 mentions a revised
Bulgarian Bible, nearly ready for the press.

Some years ago, it was estimated that Slovenian was
spoken by 1,500,000, of whom 1,300,000 inhabited
southern Austria. As early as 1555 we find Matthew's
Gospel in Slovene; in 1558, the Gospels and the
Acts, and in 1584, the Slovene Bible, editio princeps.
There is a Hungaro-Slovene Testament and Psalms
for 75,000 Slovenes in Hungary, their New Testament
in 1771, apparently reprinted in 1817. The report for
1915 announced that the complete Slovene Bible was
published and added for the first time to the Bible
Society's list.

As to the interesting remnant of the Wends, they are
112,000 German subjects inhabiting a district along
the river Spree, formerly known as Lusatia, now
divided between Prussia and Saxony. They all belong
to the Evangelical Lutheran Confession, except about
12,000 who are Roman Catholics. The term "Wend"

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 129

is the appellation given them by their German neigh
bors, but they call themselves "Serbs," and this name
becomes in Latin, "Sorabus." Hence German phi
lologists call this language "Sorbisch," and English
scholars refer to it as "Sorb" or "Serbian." The
Upper Wends are 77,000 in Prussia and Saxon Lusatia,
and the Lower Wends have 35,000 in Prussian Lusatia.
The B. F. B. S. price list, 1915, had a Testament and
Psalms in Upper Wend.

In Polish the earliest versions are Ecclesiastes, 1522,
the New Testament, 1552, 1553, and 1556, and the
Radziw^ll Bible of 1563, bearing the name of a noble
Reformed family; besides the Roman Catholic Polish
New Testament, 1593, and Bible, 1599, of Jacob Wujek
at Cracow. The B. F. B. S. colporteurs circulate the
latter as well as the standard Bible, of course without
Catholic notes.

In 1912 the publication of some tentative transla
tions for Slovaks was announced, three of the Gospels;
and the price list for 1915 contained a Slovak New
Testament.

History ascribes the earliest Bohemian translation
of Scriptures to Cyril and Methodius, perhaps A.D. 860.
This was revised by John Huss (1373-1415). The
editio princeps of the New Testament is dated
1475, and that of the whole Bible, 1488. These were
versions from the Vulgate. A century later the United
Brethren appointed a committee to translate the Bible
from the original tongues. This version was printed
in 1593 at Kralitz Castle and has since been known as
the Kralicka or Kralitz Bible, a great literary monu
ment of the Bohemian language. The B. F. B. S.
report for 1912 adds, that for many years Pastor
Jan Karafiat, of Prague, has been comparing this
version with the Hebrew and Greek texts, and noting
more exact renderings of the original. Though delayed

130 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

by the War, Mr. Karafiat's revised Bohemian Bible
has been published, and copies have lately arrived
in America.

LETTERS OF DR. ELTERICH AND DR. HAYS

From the long list of letters commending Pittsburgh
Presbytery's exhibit, two additional messages are
given here, one from Dr. W. O. Elterich, Presbyterian
missionary of Chefoo, China, the other from Dr. C. C.
Hays, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a former moderator
of the Synod of Pennsylvania:

Dr. Elterich: "It was a great pleasure to me to attend
recently the Foreign Missions meeting of the Presby
tery of Pittsburgh held in the First Presbyterian
Church. I was exceedingly interested in the exhibit,
the history of the work done among the foreigners of
this region, and in the performances of the young
women from the Coraopolis Bible Training School. I
doubt if there is another presbytery in our Church in
this country which can make such a fine showing. To
a foreign missionary like myself who has been in China
for many years, this work has especially appealed. I
feel that the Presbytery of Pittsburgh has found the
most sensible and effective way of dealing with the
problem of evangelizing the European foreign popula
tion in this country. The selection and training of
foreign workers with an efficient foreign superintendent
is the method which has made foreign missions such a
success in non-Christian lands. It stands to reason
that the same principles applied and adapted to the
work for foreigners in this land are bound to be suc
cessful, and this work of the Pittsburgh Presbytery is
a striking example of the same.

"In view of the millions in Europe who are coming
to our shores as fast as they can get over, all churches
and denominations should seriously consider how to

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 131

handle this multitude to make them Christian citizens
of our Christian Republic. Pittsburgh Presbytery is
an example and model as to how this work can be done.
May God's richest blessing rest upon the efforts of
your committee and fellow workers who are doing
this work."

Dr. Hays: "It was a fine thing for Pittsburgh Pres
bytery to set apart a day for the consideration of
its foreign work and I took great pleasure in calling
the attention of the Synod of Pennsylvania to what the
presbytery is doing. I was greatly impressed with
the interest manifested on your special day. The large
attendance, including many like myself from outside
your own presbytery, was itself an evidence of the
success of your work throughout many years. The
exhibit showing work done, buildings in operation, and
the number and quality of teachers employed, was a
most effective object lesson. No one can question that
the work among foreigners is to-day the great work of
Pittsburgh Presbytery."

MR. PRUDKY'S JOURNEYS CONTINUED

We now follow this itinerary from Poland to the
region of Volhynia in Russia, where there are about
50,000 Bohemians, including a Reformed element.
First we note the village of Kupicev, near the cele
brated fort of Brest-Li to vsk, and Kovel. It is seven
miles from its train station, Holoby. Mr. Holub, a
Presbyterian of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, was married
in Kupicev. One half of this village is Russian, the
other half Bohemian, and they are in great contrast.
These are comparatively new settlers, not of two
centuries ago, but since 1870. When the famous
Bohemian historian, Palacky, and his son-in-law,
Rieger, visited Russia, at a national convention in
Moscow, they recommended that Bohemians emigrate

132 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

to Russia in preference to America. There is a Re
formed Bohemian school there, and they hold their
meetings in it, as their brethren do in some other
places where there is no church. The Russians have
an Orthodox Church. A cantor supplies the Reformed
congregation, and once a year, a Polish pastor from
Vilna who has learned Bohemian to some extent,
makes them a visit, as he does for Cesky Borjatin.

Cesky Borjatin, the next place visited, is two miles
from Luck, and has a fine Bohemian Reformed Church,
with about five hundred souls, not counting some in
surrounding villages. These are more cultured, and
have more means than their brethren in some other
centers just described. The soil is rich, yielding good
crops of hops. The Bohemians suffered in the War.
When an Austrian army captured the place, naturally
they welcomed Bohemian soldiers who were in their
ranks. The Russians recaptured it and proceeded
to punish Bohemian civilians as traitors. The worthy
Reformed curator, Opocensky, was imprisoned, and
for some time in danger of execution, but later was
released by the revolutionists. Another good worker
is Joseph Baloun, also Janata, an elder, efficient in
their church and in Sunday-school work. Baloun's
son also had his escapes in war, eventually engaging in
Y. M. C. A. work in Brno.

The Russian Government had an idea that Bohemians
were inclined to be Hussites; and while it did not favor
Polish Roman Catholic churches, it was willing to
encourage a Hussite movement, supposing that this
would finally become Greek Orthodox. Accordingly
they supported three Bohemian Catholic priests,
married men, who were accepted as Hussites. In
practice, according to policy, in one community these
would conduct a Reformed service, in another a
Catholic service, and elsewhere a Greek Orthodox

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 133

service. In fact, they were not perfectly agreed, one
preferring a Hussite organization, another the Old
Catholic, while the third was undecided. Yet this
peculiar style of Church unity did not appeal to
Russian authorities, who abandoned their Hussite
experiment, and decreed that all these Bohemian set
tlers must become Orthodox. Some Bohemian Ortho
dox churches still survive. But the Bohemian Re
formed, deprived of their church and school, made
protests. Later on, the czar became ill, and prayers
everywhere were made for his recovery. Seizing such
an opportunity, the Reformed asked that they too
might assemble for prayer, and this was granted.
After the czar passed away, and the new czar took the
throne, a brave petitioner, risking arrest, fell on his
knees before him with a petition. The czar graciously
received him, and at last granted by a ukase religious
freedom to the Reformed Bohemians. Mr. Prudky
considered their Church life to be of a good type. They
greatly desired a Bohemian pastor for themselves and
the neighboring villages, and this occasioned another
journey later on for Mr. Prudky to the Reformed
Synod of Vilna. Mr. Prudky met one of the priests
referred to, Kaspar, still Orthodox, no longer able to
conduct a school as he had done for some time. He
also met in Cesky Borjatin the widow of another of
the priestly trio, Hrdlicka. In this place there is a
Bohemian Orthodox school, with an Orthodox teacher,
and the Reformed children, as it is a public school, are
in attendance.

Mr. Prudky next went to Michaelovka, near Rovno.
In that region is the series of fortresses, Dubno, Luck,
and Rovno. He held three meetings, morning, after
noon, and night, taking most of the day. The mayor
is a religious man. Here the Reformed have four
hundred souls, and the Baptists a small number. The

134 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

cause of temperance, or as they call it, ''abstinence,"
has made gains in that locality. The people have not
the advantages of the culture and the soil which belong
to those of Cesky Borjatin. The whole village belongs
to a Polish nobleman. The Bohemians are renters,
and the ground is not so well cared for as if they owned
it. In this village, also in the next, of this tour, the
people were originally from Zelov, hence from an
emigration of 1620, and later. This next place is
Hlupanin, with only eighty souls of the Reformed
Church, but two or three hundred Baptists, who also
have a resident minister. Mr. Prudky called upon
him, and he and his people attended Mr. Prudky 's
service, which was held, as the Reformed here must do,
in a private house. This ends the story for Volhynia,
so far as it concerns Bohemian Reformed churches.
In Hlupanin, far from any educational center, is a
layman with a fine library, a man well versed in history
and intelligent in theological discussions.

From Volhynia, Mr. Prudky 's tour led him to the.
Kherson Government over Russian steppes, without
trees, wood, or coal, first to the village of Alexandrowka,
over a mile from Birzula, which is the junction of
railroads connecting the important cities of Kiev and
Ekaterinoslav. Their houses are neat, but primitive,
the walls made of a mixture of earth and straw, repaired
every year. Dr. Losa has seen such houses in Canada,
constructed by emigrants from that part of Russia.
These Bohemians built their houses in common, then
distributed them by lot. They use agricultural
machines, and rotate crops by changing a district of
pasture to farm land, and the reverse, each year.
For fuel they use a mixture of straw and manure, which
some American westerners have called "Kansas coal."
They raise wheat, corn, and sunflowers, for the people
eat the seeds of the sunflower as Americans eat peanuts.

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 135

The soil is very good, but the whole place is owned by
a Russian nobleman; and as they must move away in
a few years, they have no inducement to plant trees,
evidently a wretched system for so good a country.
In a later journey, Mr. Prudky observed that some
soldiers, veterans of the war with Japan, owned small
tracts allotted to them. Many farmers own fifty
horses, and more than forty cows. There is no church,
but a school used also as a meeting place. The Bohe
mian Reformed have three hundred souls, and there are
a few Baptists. Mr. Prudky afterwards sent them a
teacher who is now in the United States, an ordained
minister, Mr. Drobny. Originally these, too, were
from Zelov.

About twenty miles from this village, Mr. Prudky
saw Bohemka, newly built, a larger place, "like a
swallow's nest," he says, and having a fine view over
the steppe. The Reformed have five hundred souls.
They meet in the school, located in the center, where a
flag is displayed at the time of service. Stundists are
not far away, but Mr. Prudky was not able to visit
them. He held three services on Sunday, and states
that they are a good, spiritual people, loving their
Bibles and their hymns. In these towns all can read,
though not all can write, but they are surrounded by
an illiterate population.

The last part of this journey brought Mr. Prudky to
two groups of families, all originally from Zelov. Four
brothers, all with large families, live in Ljubasevka,
which is a train station between Birzula and Ekateri-
noslav. They own their land, and have good buildings,
vineyards, fine grapes, vegetables, and flowers. Here
also were trees. For their children they have a Bohe
mian governess, instructing them in the Bible, cate
chism, and the like. During three days, in forenoons
and afternoons, they assembled to hear Bible expositions

136 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

from Mr. Prudky, and as Baptists and Stundists were
in their neighborhood, they had special questions to
ask concerning their dealings with them.

Farther on, in the hamlet of Zachovka, were three
families, two of whom rent the ground, and one fur
nishes labor. These have a few trees, a large planta
tion of watermelons, also their gardens, and their
primitive houses of earth and straw. A patriarchal,
intelligent man, who has a library with religious books,
the father of one of the families, lives with them. Here
for the first time Mr. Prudky read an evangelical relig
ious paper in Russian, published in Petrograd, the
Evangelical Christian, copies of which he has seen
since. This is interesting, as it shows the survival of
publications from the Pashkof movement, to which it
really belongs. Two meetings were held here, and
people came sixteen miles from Bohemka to visit them.
Mr. Prudky finished this tour with a brief visit again in
Bohemka. For some years these Bohemka people
had lived in the Samara Government on the Volga,
where they had bought ground; but they had no rain
for two years, and had to abandon the region. Some
of them had gone from Samara to Siberia where they
founded Novopavlovska in the Akmulinska oblast or
province. They own their ground, and have a school
for their meetings. They desired Mr. Prudky to visit
them, but this would have involved a trip of fourteen
days by train, and two hundred miles farther than their
nearest station, which was impossible. And Mr.
Prudky did not have time to visit the Stundists of the
region at a period when they suffered persecutions.

During two days in June, 1909, Mr. Prudky attended
a Reformed Synod in Vilna, his second journey in
Russia. There wrere two Reformed synods then in
Russia, the one of Vilna, the other of Warsaw. There
is some interchange of visiting delegates between these

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 137

synods, Bohemian pastors are in the Warsaw Synod;
but Kupicev, Cesky Borjatin, Michaelovka, and some
others send their representatives each year to the
Vilna Synod. On this occasion, two were sent from
Cesky Borjatin, earnestly seeking a pastor. A fine
Polish f nobleman presided; and Rev. Fastrzembski
was the superintendent. Mr. Prudky was cordially
received. The synod still has some endowments, or
had at that time; it was willing to assist Cesky Borjatin
financially, and it made recommendations for a pastor.
But difficulties intervened. Such a pastor must be a
Russian subject, and must pass an examination in
four of the eight classes or grades of a Russian Gym
nasium, including a knowledge of the Russian language.
Hence the Russian Government refused permission,
and this charge has had no pastor since 1909 ! No such
restrictions applied to Zelov, where an Austrian subject
might serve as pastor. It seemed to be Russian policy
then to encourage Bohemian churches in Polish terri
tory, but to discourage them in purely Russian regions.
But since Poland gained independence, Poland has
closed Bohemian schools, which still are allowed in
Russia, for instance, in Volhynia.

The third journey of this series was in 1911, into
German Silesia, now Poland, though west of Breslau
it is Germany still. Husinec is now in Germany near
Breslau, and has a Bohemian Reformed church, but
no school, as the children are forced to attend German
schools. They had preaching in Bohemian, and a
German service once in three weeks, though invariably
the hymns were in Bohemian. The Bohemian pastor
then would accept no help from Mr. Prudky, so the
latter held no service there, but visited the people,
the elder Bohemians in villages near by, especially
Upper, Middle, and Lower Podiebrad. The people
here speek the classic Bohemian of the Kralicka Bible.

138 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Among the Germans they are formal, but among
themselves familiar; with the former it is "Sie," and
with their Bohemian brethren it is "du." They are
prosperous, and in the markets their produce has
the highest reputation. These Reformed people number
more than six hundred, and they have a fine church
building.

Some time after this visit, the pastor died, and they
called a minister from Pilsen. He came and preached
with great acceptance to the older people, but the
German Government refused its permission, and sent
instead a German minister of Huguenot ancestry, who
had learned some Bohemian in Friedrichstabor. This
was some three years after Mr. Prudky's visit. The
people protested against having a German pastor
and a man of liberal theological tendencies. Recently
the German Government, still pursuing its Germanizing
policy, sent German hymn books for their services. To
the older Bohemians their language is sacred, and the
opinion they expressed to Mr. Prudky was that as their
children lost their Bohemian language, they would be
exposed to German influences and also lose their faith.
For the benefit of Bohemians in German regions, a
famous book of the great Bohemian educator and
reformer, John Amos Comenius (Komensky), has been
printed in Gothic type,- and used with excellent effect.
It is, "The Will of the Dying Mother"— "in which she
divides among her sons and heirs the treasures entrusted
to her by God." This message, issued in the middle of
the seventeenth century, at the close of the great
Thirty Years' War, in which Bohemian liberties were
lost, is a work that stirs the Bohemian heart by its
pathos.

The next locality visited was Friedrichsgratz (Bed-
richuv Hradec) near Oppeln (Opoli) where there was a
Slovak pastor, using Slovak and German. The German

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 139

Government supports Germanizing pastors. He had a
diploma from the German Government commending
the progress of his school and church. That church is
a loyal Reformed Church; he sought to make it Luth
eran. Consistent Reformed people have a distaste for
the use of the cross and for pictures in the church.
Mr. Prudky remarked to him that there was one
"picture" that he missed, which was a Bohemian Bible
in that church! The children were being Germanized,
as he observed in one family which he visited. He had
no opportunity to conduct a Bohemian service on a
week day, when people could be gathered together
only with difficulty. This church has over a thousand
souls. The homes of the people are neat. One old
man told Mr. Prudky that he did not expect the
Bohemian tongue to die out in that community; but
Mr. Prudky did not share his hope.

Like a true Bohemian, Mr. Prudky was much inter
ested in a visit to Lesno (Lissa), near Posen, which has
a library and a museum, with manuscripts and memo
rials of Comenius, who for years administered the
Gymnasium and the church there after leaving
Bohemia during the Thirty Years' War. The pastor
of the German Reformed church was a good historian
of Comenius. One of the treasures is a sacramental
cup of gold, adorned with jewels, brought by a Bohe
mian nobleman. There Mr. Prudky met Rev.
Kurnatowski of Kovno province, a Reformed Polish
pastor; and as a result of their interview there was
held later in Prague a conference of evangelical Slav
workers of several nationalities.

Seen next in this tour was Friedrichstabor (Bed-
richuv Tabor) with its villages, Cernin among them,
in German Poland, near Bralin, a congregation with a
total of twelve hundred souls. Here was the pastor
above mentioned, who was afterwards transferred to

140 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

Husinec. At the time he was friendly, and requested
Mr. Prudky to preach, hoping for something to check
a movement about which he was concerned, toward a
so-called "Pentecostal" development, also some Baptist
innovations. Old people were present who could not
speak German, who wept when they heard the gospel
once more, after years of privation, in their native
tongue. Later on the church was for two years without
a pastor, and the elders wrote asking Mr. Prudky to
visit them. He asked the consent of the German pastor
of Bralin, who sent a characteristic German response —
that he did not wish to see him in that part of the
country, and that he would oppose him! So he could
not return there. On this tour he revisited Zelov, and
some other places above mentioned.

The fourth and fifth journeys were in a different
direction, to Croatia and Slavonia, by way of Vienna
and Zagreb. He confessed that these travels were not
so enjoyable as those in Russia; for he was impressed
with the difference in an emigration from spiritual
motives, such as could be found there, and an emigra
tion induced by material gains. He did not see such
spirituality in those colonies as in Russia. He noticed
a peculiarity in the country, that the population was
mixed to some extent as in America — here a Croatian
village, there a Serbian, another Italian, another
German, and so on. First he saw Uljanik in Croatia, a
small town, where the Bohemian church and manse
were in one building, a congregation of some two
hundred souls.

Next he visited a congregation of some three hundred
souls in Herzegovac. They had no church building,
but worshiped in a public school. The character of the
community may be inferred from the fact that they
gladly arranged with a German minister to supply
them, one who spoke Croatian, inasmuch as he offered

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 141

to do so without salary! Mr. Prudky considered the
congregation to be in a low state, materialistic, indiffer
ent as to whether services were held in German or
Bohemian.

The last place visited in Croatia was BrsTjanica,
where there were some ten Reformed families, most of
whom had removed from Uljanik. Although it was
far off, it could be reached by their horses, so that they
could go there. They assembled for Mr. Prudky's
service in a private house, and were thankful for it,
showing a better spirit than those in Herzegovac.

The last place in his journeys about Slavdom was
Pletenica in Slavonia near Bosnia. (There is no
Bohemian Reformed Church in Bosnia.) Church and
manse here are one house, and a German minister
supplied them who could preach in Croatian, the
hymns also being in that language. Here he met that
remarkable convert, Kujinek, their treasurer, the fruit
of Dr. Losa's mission. On his fifth tour, revisiting this
region, he brought them a Bohemian missionary, a
deacon.

This fourth journey had an additional excursion.
From Pletenica Mr. Prudky went to Belgrade (Be'leh-
rad), capital of Serbia, spending two days seeing
Mohammedan mosques and other places of interest.
Here there is a small evangelical congregation, mostly
German, with a church building, a school, and a
parsonage. The pastor was friendly, a Croatian, a
converted Romish priest, who had studied in Bielefeld,
in Germany, and whose school was German, though
emphasizing the study of Serbian. His preaching was
in German. This is the only evangelical church in
Belgrade, or so far as Mr. Prudky learned, in all Serbia,
only scattered groups of evangelicals being found else
where. Good work has been done in the colportage of
the British and Foreign Bible Society. This church,

142 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

apart from recognition by State laws, had direct
support from the Serbian king and his prime minister.
On New Year's Day, the pastor was regularly and
formally received by the king, and in the church was a
chair as a seat of honor for visitors from the court.
The Slav Mohammedans have lost all Slav character
istics, are classed as Turks, and differ from other
Mohammedans only in being monogamists. Relatively
they are not numerous in Belgrade, but abound in
Bosnia.

After a trip of six hours on the Danube, he arrived
at O' Moldawa, a station on that river. He had written
to a pastor in this part of southern Hungary, who
replied that he was in charge and had no need of help
from Bohemia or any visitor from there. He sent
gendarmes to investigate. They delayed Mr. Prudky
for about an hour, but could not hinder his errand, as
his passports were perfectly in order. Taking a car
riage, he went eight miles up into the mountains,
with views of fine scenery, as the famous "Iron Gates"
of the Danube were not far off. Bohemians had had
their colonies, some six villages, in this region for a
hundred years. His purpose was to visit the only
evangelical village of the group, Szensilona, where the
Reformed have four hundred souls, and the Congre-
gationalists, who came later, a hundred souls. The
Reformed have a fine church, no Sunday school, but
a public school. The mayor, Cermak, received him
cordially. The pastor, whom he met in the market
place was very unfriendly. He spoke only Magyar,
which Mr. Prudky did not understand. He read his
sermons in Bohemian, but the people could not under
stand him; as for his personal characteristics he was
wholly unacceptable to them. He, too, would have
prevented this visit, if possible, by summoning gen
darmes. Mr. Prudky met a few of the Congregation-

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 143

alists in their missionary's house. Altogether, his stay
in the village was only about two hours. He never
revisited Hungary.

A note may be added as to Zagreb (Agram), the
important capital of Croatia, a university town, with
more or less than 100,000 inhabitants. On his fourth
journey, Mr. Prudky visited a Reformed family pos
sessing a fine estate near the city. A few other Bohe
mian families are scattered in the region. They go
occasionally to Zagreb, though the evangelical church
there is German. Their pastor must also know Croatian,
and the church records must be in that language.
Germans hold the fort, and expect all Reformed or
Lutheran, all of the Augsburg or of the Helvetic Con
fessions, to come to them, no matter whether they are
Bohemians or of other nationalities. So it was for
merly in Bohemia and Moravia. After the beginnings
of toleration, the Bohemian Reformed congregations
were all rural. German influences, even Protestant,
opposed their coming into towns, as a Bohemianizing
scheme. After 1880 (earlier than that in Prague), they
did organize Reformed congregations in cities. (Brno,
1884; Olomouc, 1898, et cetera.) So when the Zagreb
pastor died, and Pastor Gerza, who had been pastor
in Uljanik ten years ago, visited there in 1917, of
course the Germans did not call him to be their pastor
in Zagreb.

Prochazka, the deacon Mr. Prudky brought with
him to Slavonia on his fifth journey in 1913, did good
work, but in two years he died. During the War, in
1917, Pastor Gerza went from Bohemia to visit all
these fields of the Bohemians in Croatia and Slavonia,
finding all pastorless, sheep without a shepherd. Mr.
Prudky adds to the sad picture their materialistic
neglect of education. In the poor public schools,
sometimes overcrowded, the Bohemian children, not

144 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

knowing Croatian, are at a disadvantage and learn
little. He saw a Bohemian boy of thirteen years,
unable to read or write, which would be rare in
Bohemia itself.

STATISTICS OF THE BOHEMIAN BRETHREN, 1920

The Kalich ("Cup") or Church Yearbook of the
Bohemian Brethren for 1920 gives statistics for the
Reformed and Lutheran Bohemian churches separately,
since their merger has not been completed in detail.
A "seniorat" corresponds somewhat to our presbytery.
Their synod, in February, 1921, planned to divide
Bohemia and Moravia into twelve seniorats. In
Bohemia, this Yearbook reports, of the former Reformed
bodies, vin the seniorat of Prague, 15 churches, 23,189
souls; Caslav seniorat, 15 churches, 16,578 souls, and
without repeating, corresponding figures: Chrudim,
15, and 19,957; Pode"brad, 17, and 20,495. Thus these
four seniorats have over 80,000 souls. And of the
former Lutherans in Bohemia, of parishes, 15, souls,
14,080. In Moravia the western seniorat, 18, and
27,362; the eastern, 10, and 16,245; and the Vsetin
seniorat, 13, and 19,816, or a total of over 63,000 souls.
Besides, there are "Moravian Brethren" supported
by those of that name in Germany, with six congrega
tions, 1331 souls, mostly Bohemian. It is now
expected that German support will be withdrawn, and
these too, merged in this united body.

Of the officers of the synod, the names of some
leaders may be mentioned: President, Rev. Josef
Soucek, of Prague; vice president, Rev. Ferdinand
Hrejsa, who is also a superintendent, of Prague;
treasurer, Ferdinand Kavka, and secretary, Dr.
Josef Krai, both of Prague. Of the synod's committee,
Dr. Ferdinand Cisar, superintendent for Moravia, at
Klobouky, Moravia; and of the substitute com-

THE COMING OF THE SLAV H5

mittee, Rev. Francis Prudky, pastor at Olomouc,
Moravia. These all can read English correspondence,
and there are many other pastors or workers besides
who can correspond in English.

COMENIUS, AND "THE WILL OF THE DYING MOTHER*'

John Amos Comenius, famous as an educator and
a reformer, was born in Moravia, March 28, 1592, and
died in Amsterdam, November 15, 1670. After the
Battle of the White Mountain, 1620, he fled to Poland,
where in 1632 he was elected bishop of the "Unitas
Fratrum Bohemorum," or Bohemian Brethren, being
the last bishop in the history of that noble Christian
communion. His educational writings gave him honors
in Sweden, and England and a world- wide reputation.
In 1654 he fled from Lesno or Lissa in Poland, in another
war, to Holland, where he spent the remainder of his
life. Among his numerous works is one in Bohemian,
not translated into English, containing the remarkable
prophecy of the future triumph of righteousness in his
country: "The Will of the Dying Mother — In Which
She Distributes the Treasures Which Were Granted
to Her by God." It is rich hi quotations of Scripture,
and its pathos stirs emotion in every true Bohemian
heart.

It begins in the legal phraseology of a will, with the
solemn utterances of a deathbed scene. The "Dying
Mother" has no silver or gold, is in widowed circum
stances, deprived of her churches and her property,
but enriched with her Master's spiritual treasures,
which she now bequeaths to her children and to her
sisters, representing four classes. First, to the Bohe
mian Brotherhood, she gives parting instructions. Some
of them have strayed from their fellowship, or have
compromised with their enemies. A tearful repentance
is her bequest to them. They should turn to God like

146 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

the Ninevites, and return to their first love. To her
faithful ones, she leaves the better land, the hope of
eternal life, the white robes and palms of the new
Jerusalem, and the welcome voice, "These are they
which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb." To the Polish Brotherhood, really an offshoot
of the Bohemian Brethren, this "Mother" speaks, as
to her "second daughter," praying that no such desola
tion may befall them as that of Bohemia. There were
those who said they were Jews, but were not; they, too,
should not have the name of the Brotherhood, while
they were not of it. They should remember their
origin, and should not be a degenerate, barren vineyard.
They should maintain discipline, as many do not. If
pastors bring in strange doctrines from foreign coun
tries, let them beware lest the Church grow colder and
colder, many forsaking it (as, in fact, many Polish
nobles did in later times), and beware lest their candle
stick be removed "out of its place." If they should be
dispersed in foreign countries, let them serve Christ
in other evangelical Churches, doing this in simplicity:
"Walk in the good way that I have taught you, and
seek concord and peace in every country where you
may sojourn."

In the course of these farewells, is a parting word to
the Church of Rome, which had been a cruel step
mother to many of them; and to it the "Dying Mother"
bequeaths her own example!

Then to her beloved sisters, first, to the Helvetic
Brotherhood, to whom John Calvin had been sent,
that he might bring them as a chaste virgin, to Christ,
the "Mother" bids farewell, rejoicing that this Brother
hood has discipline; and bequeaths her wish, that they
may be more and more thoroughly established upon
Christ; that they may abound in love, as well as in

THE COMING OF THE SLAV 147

knowledge; that they may be more reverent, not seeking
by their reason to pry too deeply into the mysteries of
God. Referring to various sects, some in England, and
their dangerous work, she commends to her sister the
prayer of David, Ps. 25:21: "Let integrity and
uprightness preserve me."

Also she addresses her German sister, who had been
her best beloved sister, but whose love for her in
estrangement had grown cold. Her bequest is the wish
for more discipline; and for a better understanding of
the doctrine, "by faith alone" which had been abused,
to the neglect of good wrorks. Luther's building was
good, but unfinished, and now they are only living in
its ruins. "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now
made perfect by the flesh?" It is all in vain to
have a mere knowledge of Christ; they would deceive
themselves, to seek the consolations of the gospel
without observing the law of love.

The "Mother" then turns to all Christians, earnestly
exhorting all to seek for more mutual love and unity.
Finally, she turns to the Bohemian nation, and to
Moravia. "I turn first to you, my native country,
and entrust to you my treasures." And here is the
prophecy above mentioned as to the return of righteous
ness to that land. Her parting wish is that they may
love the truth of God as taught by John Huss, and that
they might grant freedom to the truth; that they use
the Bible to learn more of God, since it has been so
well translated from the original languages; that they
maintain discipline, without which there could not be
Christian life; that they be whole-hearted, not dividing
their heart with the world; that they retain their
Bohemian language in its classic purity; and that they
care for the education of youth, in which other nations
had made progress, while in Bohemia it had been
neglected.

148 THE COMING OF THE SLAV

"And what more shall I say? I must speak to you
as Jacob did to his sons, or as Moses to his people:
'Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a
well; whose branches run over the wall. The archers
have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated
him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms
of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the
Mighty God of Jacob/ Let Bohemia live and not die,
and let not her men be few. 'Bless, Lord/ her
'substance, and accept the work of her 'hands: smite
through the loins of them that rise against' her,
'and of them that hate' her, 'that they rise not again/
'The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are
the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the
enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them/
'Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing
is upon thy people/ '

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